Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, and American statesman Henry Kissinger were at Westminster Abbey today to remember the extraordinary life of Lord Carrington.
Sir John Major also attended the service of thanksgiving for the life and work of the long-serving politician held in London this afternoon.
Lord Carrington, who was the last surviving member of Winston Churchill’s post-war cabinet and the last Tory Foreign Secretary to quit until Boris Johnson, died a month after his 99th birthday last July.
The peer served in every Conservative administration from Churchill to Margaret Thatcher, before quitting on principle in 1982 after failing to anticipate the Argentine invasion of the Falklands. It is widely considered the most honourable resignation in British political history.
Many of the most influential politicians of recent decades attended today’s event and were joined by the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke of Kent, who represented the royal family.
US politician and Nobel Peace Prize winner Henry Kissinger, 95, was at the service – who Lord Carrington would lovingly tell friends was ‘an old mate of mine’.
The pair helped Nelson Mandela broker peace in South Africa after the collapse of apartheid before he became the country’s first black president in 1994.
Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, arrives at Westminster Abbey to remember the extraordinary life of Lord Carrington (pictured in 2009)
Henry Kissinger, 95, former United States Secretary of State, arrives at the abbey to attend a service of thanksgiving
Last year Downing Street described his death as ‘very sad news’, while Theresa May’s effective deputy David Lidington paid tribute to a ‘career spent in public service’.
Until Boris Johnson left his post over Brexit, Lord Carrington was the last Foreign Secretary to quit his post while in power.
His decision 37 years ago, taken in the aftermath of the Argentine attack on the Falklands, is widely regarded as the most honourable resignation of modern times.
Thatcher tried to dissuade him from stepping down but he refused, saying it had been his personal responsibility to protect the British overseas territory.
The Dean of Westminster Abbey, John Hall, praised Lord Carrington’s lifelong service to public duty.
‘We are inspired by his bravery and modesty, and by his example of high honour and public duty,’ he said.
‘So, let us pray today that our land will never lack men and women willing and able to commit their lives to the public good and to the service of Crown and country, and that we ourselves may continue to guard what is right and fight for what is just.’
Guests including former deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine and Lord Carrington’s son, Rupert Carington, delivered readings.
Rupert Carington, the 7th Baron Carrington, paid tribute to his father by reading extracts from his diaries to ‘bring him to life’.
One recalled his time as foreign secretary when on a trip to Vienna with former prime minister Harold Macmillan the pair stayed up until 3am drinking at the British embassy.
Mr Macmillan, who Lord Carrington believed was a ‘greatly underestimated prime minister’, ‘gave a fascinating personal version of world events’, Rupert Carington read.
Lord Carrington served in the Second World War as a tank commander in the Grenadier Guards and was awarded the Military Cross.
During the service his orders and decorations were placed on the High Altar by his relatives, while the Grenadiers Slow March played.
After the service donations were collected in aid of the charity Hope and Homes for Children, of which Lord Carrington was patron.
Lord Carrington married Iona McClean on 25 April 1942 and they had three children. Lady Carrington died in June 2009, aged 89.
A hereditary peer, Carrington served as an agriculture minister in Churchill’s post-Second World War government.
Former leader of the Liberal Democrats Sir Menzies ‘Ming’ Campbell (left) and Former leader of the Liberal Party David Steel arrived together for the service
Conservative MP Peter Bottomley and former Tory chancellor Lord Lamont remembered the life and times of the later peer
Israeli Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Mark Regev, and Lord Robertson, the 10th Secretary General of NATO from 1999 to 2004, attend the memorial service
He went on told hold several of the top jobs in British government, including defense secretary and foreign secretary, until he quit.
But the Falklands resignation wasn’t the end of his career.
He served as the 6th Secretary General of NATO between 1984 and 1988, and is credited with stopping a war between Greece and Turkey in 1987.
He had previously chaired the Lancaster House talks in 1979 which led to the establishment of the state of Zimbabwe, and later served as secretary general of Nato from 1984-88.
The Eton-educated hereditary peer was a tank commander in the Grenadier Guards during the Second World War, winning the Military Cross in the North-Western Europe campaign.
After his death in July former PM David Cameron said: ‘Peter Carrington was a lovely man and a great public servant.
‘It was a huge honour having him to Chequers and listening to his stories of working with every Conservative leader from Winston Churchill onwards. Kindness and brilliance in equal measure; he’ll be deeply missed.’
Lord Carrington, pictured in Downing Street in 2011, died at the age of 99 after an extraordinary career in politics going back to Winston Churchill’s post-war government
Lord Carrington at home in Bledlow, Buckinghamshire, in 2013, where he lived until his death
His first Government post came in 1951 (pictured) when Winston Churchill made him a minister responsible for agriculture and food, pictured here admiring apples at fruit show in Marden, Kent
Lord Carrington, pictured in 1964, when he was leader of the House of Lords and Minister without Portfolio in Alec Douglas-Home’s cabinet
The was married to Lady Iona Carrington (pictured together) from 1942 until 2009 when she died at the age of 89
Under Mrs Thatcher, pictured together in 1979, he served as Foreign Secretary for three years until his 1982 resignation over the Falklands
But he went on to be a successful NATO Secretary General, pictured with Ronald Reagan in 1984 at the White House
And Sir John Major, who was at today’s service, said he felt ‘immensely privileged’ to have known Carrington.
‘There are some of whom it is easy to say ‘I was proud to have known him’,’ said Sir John. ‘Peter Carrington was one such.
‘In war and in peace, he served our country with courage, grace and distinction. He never fell beneath the dignity of his office, yet leavened public life with an irreverent wit that delighted all who worked with him.
‘The country has lost one of its greatest post-war statesmen. I not only feel proud to have known him, I feel immensely privileged.’