Diana Hay, 23rd Countess of Erroll

Diana Denyse Hay, 23rd Countess of Erroll (5 January 1926 – 16 May 1978) was a British peeress suo jure.^[1]

Diana was only child of Josslyn Hay, 22nd Earl of Erroll and his first wife, Idina Sackville. When her father was murdered in 1941, she inherited the earldom of Erroll and the lordship of Hay, while the barony of Kilmarnock had passed to her uncle, Gilbert Boyd, 6th Baron Kilmarnock.

On 19 December 1946 at St Margaret's, Westminster, Lady Erroll married Iain Moncreiffe of that Ilk.^[1] She and her husband both held titles in their own right. They had three children:

• Merlin Sereld Victor Gilbert, styled Lord Hay, later 24th Earl of Erroll (b. 20 April 1948)
• Hon. Peregrine David Euan Malcolm Moncreiffe of that Ilk, Chief of Clan Moncreiffe (b. 16 February 1951), married in 1988 Miranda Mary Fox-Pitt (b. 29 December 1968), 5 children.
• Lady Alexandra Victoria Caroline Anne Moncreiffe Hay (b. Edinburgh, 30 July 1955), married Jolyon Connell (b. Edinburgh, 16 May 1952) and had Flora Diana Catharine Cecelia Connell (b. London, 24 February 1990); she also had an illegitimate son, Ivar Francis Grey de Miremont Wigan

After the passing of the Peerage Act 1963 which allowed suo jure peeresses to take a seat in the House of Lords, Lady Erroll did so, with eleven other peeresses. Moncreiffe and Lady Erroll were divorced in 1964 and on 27 November that year, she married, in Lonmay, Major Raymond Carnegie (born 9 July 1920, a grandson of Charles Carnegie, 7th Earl of Southesk) and they had one son, the Hon. Jocelyn Jacek Alexander Bannerman Carnegie (b. 21 November 1966), who married Susan Mhairie Butler in 1990; the couple had six children.

Death

Diana, Lady Erroll, died in 1978, aged 52. Her titles passed to her eldest son, Merlin. The cause of death has never been publicly disclosed.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Mosley, Charles (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition. Vol I. Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd. p. 1337. 

Sources

• Genealogy website

Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by Josslyn Hay	Countess of Erroll 1941–1978	Succeeded by Merlin Hay

Persondata
Name	Erroll, Diana Hay, 23rd Countess of
Alternative names	Hay, Diana Denyse (birthname)
Short description	Scottish peeress "suo jure"
Date of birth	5 January 1926
Place of birth
Date of death	16 May 1978
Place of death