Charles Wood, 3rd Earl Of Halifax

Charles Edward Peter Neil Wood, 3rd Earl of Halifax, was born on 14 March 1944. He is a British peer and a member of the Conservative Party.

Family Background:

He is the third child and only son of Charles Wood, 2nd Earl of Halifax, and Ruth Wood (née Primrose), Countess of Halifax. His father, Charles Wood, was a descendant of Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, who served as Viceroy of India and Foreign Secretary. His mother, Ruth Primrose, was the daughter of Neil Primrose and the granddaughter of Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, who was a Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby.

Education:

He was raised at Swinford Paddocks, Newmarket. He attended Eton College, a secondary school, and subsequently studied at Christ Church, Oxford University.

Political and Public Service Career:

Under the name Peter Wood, he was an unsuccessful candidate for the Conservative Party in the Dearne Valley constituency during the 1974 general elections held in February and October of that year. He succeeded to his peerage titles on 19 March 1980, becoming the 3rd Earl of Halifax, the 7th Baronet Wood of Barnsley, the 5th Viscount Halifax of Monk Bretton, and the 3rd Baron Irwin of Kirby Underdale.

He held several public service roles:

- Deputy Lieutenant of Humberside from 1983 to 1996.

- Justice of the Peace for Wilton Beacon in 1985.

- High Steward of York Minster in 1988.

- Vice-Lord-Lieutenant of the East Riding of Yorkshire in 1996.

He is also a Knight of St John and has served as a Justice of the Peace.

Business and Cultural Engagements:

He was a non-executive director at Hambros Bank from 1981 to 1998. He served as Vice-Chairman of Christie, Manson & Woods, the European division of Christie’s international fine arts auctioneers, until his resignation in 2001. Additionally, he was a director of Yorkshire Post Newspapers Ltd until 1997.

Other Roles:

He serves as a Board Governor for The Pocklington School Foundation. He is President of the Leeds Art Collections Fund, Vice President of the Yorkshire Society, and was a member of the Board of Directors of Jockey Club Estates from 2005 to 2016. The Earl and Countess of Halifax are active members of the Jockey Club and participated in riding in the King's procession at Royal Ascot in 2023.

Family:

In 1976, he married Camilla Younger, who hails from a Scottish brewing family. She is a former wife of Richard Parker Bowles, the brother of Queen Camilla's first husband. Consequently, the Countess of Halifax and Queen Camilla are former sisters-in-law.

They have a son and a daughter:

- James Charles Wood, Lord Irwin, born on 24 August 1977, is the heir apparent to the earldom. He married Georgia E. Clarkson on 14 October 2006; they have two children, Rex Patrick Wood (born 2010) and Audrey Nancy Wood (born 2013).

- Lady Joanna Victoria Wood was born on 15 January 1980.

The Countess also has a daughter, Emma Parker Bowles, born in 1974, from her first marriage.

Residences and Affiliations:

The family resides on Garrowby Hall, a 20,000-acre estate located near Garrowby, East Riding of Yorkshire. Lady Halifax serves as the national president of Macmillan Cancer Support.