Background
He was the eldest son of Hugo Francis Charteris, Lord Elcho, who was killed in the First World War.
He was the eldest son of Hugo Francis Charteris, Lord Elcho, who was killed in the First World War.
He was educated at Eton College and at Balliol College, Oxford (Bachelor 1933).
He was a Colonial Administrator in Basutoland from 1937 until 1944. He was commissioned into the Lovat Scouts (Territorial Army) in 1932. He was promoted Lieutenant in 1935 and transferred to the TA Reserve of Officers in 1937.
He served with the African Auxiliary Pioneer Corps in the Middle East from 1941 to 1944.
Lord Wemyss married, secondly, 1995, Shelagh Kathleen Kennedy, née Thrift. He was Deputy Lieutenant from 1959 to 1967 and Lord Lieutenant of East Lothian from 1967 until 1987, and a Justice of the Peace since 1957.
He held the honorary appointment of Lord Clerk Register from 1974 until 2007. He was a Lieutenant in the Royal Company of Archers.
He was Chairman of the Council of the National Trust for Scotland 1947 to 1967, President from 1967 to 1991, and had been President Emeritus since 1991.
He was Chairman of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland from 1949 to 1984, President of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society from 1958 to 1962, and President of the National Bible Society of Scotland from 1960 to 1983. He held an honorary Doctor of Laws from Street Andrews University, awarded in 1953, and an honorary DUniv from Edinburgh University awarded in 1983. He was formerly a director of Standard Life and of Scottish Television.
He lived in Gosford House, Longniddry, East Lothian.
He died on 12 December 2008 at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Edinburgh.