Nicholas Eden, 2nd Earl of Avon

Nicholas Eden, 2nd Earl of Avon, OBE (3 October 1930 – 17 August 1985), styled Viscount Eden between 1961 and 1977, was a British Army officer and, later, a Conservative politician. He was the younger son of Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden and his first wife, Beatrice (née Beckett).

Eden succeeded to the earldom on the death of his father in 1977, his elder brother Pilot Officer Simon Gascoigne Eden having been killed in action in June 1945, while serving as a navigator with the RAF in Burma.

Having risen to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the Royal Green Jackets, Lord Avon served under Margaret Thatcher as a Lord-in-Waiting from 1980 to 1983, as Under-Secretary of State for Energy from 1983 to 1984 and as Under-Secretary of State for the Environment from 1984 until shortly before his death from complications related to AIDS the following year at the age of 54. Widely known to have been gay, Lord Avon was unmarried and his titles died with him. The character of Peter Morton in the film Peter's Friends is loosely inspired by him.

He was appointed OBE in the 1970 New Year Honours for his military service.

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