William Astor, 3rd Viscount Astor

William Waldorf Astor II, 3rd Viscount Astor (13 August 1907 – 7 March 1966), was an English businessman and politician affiliated with the Conservative Party. He was a member of the Astor family.

**Background and Education**

William was the eldest son of Waldorf Astor and Nancy Witcher Langhorne, who held the title of Viscountess Astor through marriage. He received his education at Eton College and attended New College, Oxford.

**Political Career**

In 1932, Astor served as secretary to Victor Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Earl of Lytton, during a League of Nations Committee of Enquiry concerning Manchuria. He was elected to the House of Commons in 1935 as a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Fulham East, a position he held until 1945. Between 1936 and 1937, he was the Parliamentary Private Secretary to Samuel Hoare, then First Lord of the Admiralty. When Hoare was appointed Home Secretary in Neville Chamberlain's cabinet in 1937, Astor continued his role. During World War II, he served as a naval intelligence officer, generating numerous contacts but achieving no distinction. He returned to Parliament as the MP for Wycombe in the 1951 general election, serving a ten-month term.

In 1952, upon the death of his father, Astor inherited peerages that included the titles of 3rd Viscount Astor and Baron Astor, granting him a seat in the House of Lords. The inheritance triggered a by-election in Wycombe, which was won by Conservative candidate John Hall. Astor assumed control of the family's Cliveden estate in Buckinghamshire, residing there until his death in 1966.

**Horse Racing and Scandal**

Astor was involved in thoroughbred horse racing, inheriting Cliveden Stud, a breeding operation located in Taplow near Maidenhead. During the 1963 Profumo affair, he was accused of having an affair with Mandy Rice-Davies. When during trial proceedings Rice-Davies was told that Astor had denied an affair, she infamously responded, "Well he would, wouldn't he?"

**Personal Life**

William Astor was married three times. His first marriage was to Sarah Norton (20 January 1920 – 4 February 2013), daughter of Richard, 6th Baron Grantley, on 14 June 1945. The marriage ended in divorce in 1953. They had one son, William Astor, 4th Viscount Astor (born 27 December 1951), who married Annabel Jones in 1976.

His second marriage was to Phillipa Victoria Hunloke (10 December 1930 – 20 July 2005) on 26 April 1955; she was the granddaughter of Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire. They divorced on 3 June 1960 and had one daughter, Emily Mary Astor (born 9 June 1956).

His third marriage was to Bronwen Alun-Pugh on 14 October 1960. They had two daughters: Janet Elizabeth Astor (born 1 December 1961), who married the Earl of March and Kinrara in 1991, later the 11th Duke of Richmond; and Pauline Marian Astor (born 26 March 1964).

**Death**

William Waldorf Astor II died in Nassau, Bahamas, aged 58, from a heart attack. He was buried in the Octagon Temple at Cliveden. His son succeeded him as the 4th Viscount Astor.