Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath

Alexander George Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath (born 6 May 1932), styled Viscount Weymouth between 1946 and 1992, is an English politician, artist and author. He was ranked 359th in the Sunday Times Rich List 2009 with an estimated wealth of £157 million.

Although born in London, he grew up at his family's seat, Longleat, a great Elizabethan house set in Wiltshire parkland landscaped in the 18th century by Capability Brown. After attending Ludgrove School and Eton College he was commissioned into the Life Guards as a lieutenant in 1951. He was then educated at Christ Church, Oxford, where he was president of the Bullingdon Club, and travelled across Europe.

Believing that Wessex would be better off as a devolved region within the UK, he stood in the February 1974 General Election as a Wessex Regionalist. Shortly after the election, he was one of the founders of the Wessex Regionalist Party. He stood for the party in the first ever elections to the European Parliament in 1979.

After inheriting the marquessate from his father in 1992, he sat in the House of Lords as a Liberal Democrat. Among other things, he spoke on the need for devolution for the regions of England, until he lost his place in the House of Lords after the Labour Government's reforms excluded most of the hereditary peers.

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