Lord Astor was born in June 1946 and educated at Eton. From 1965 to 1970 he served in The Life Guards in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Northern Ireland and on ceremonial duties in London.
Between 2005 and 2010 Lord Astor was Honorary Colonel of 101 (City of London) Engineer Regiment, which was recently transferred from the Territorial to the Regular Army and specialises in bomb and improvised explosive device disposal.
He worked in France for 11 years and is Patron of the Conservatives in Paris.
In 1994 Lord Astor was a British Parliamentary Observer in Johannesburg during the South African General Election. He was a member of the Executive Association of Conservative Peers from 1996 to 1998. In 1999 he was elected an Hereditary Peer.
From 1998 to 2001 he served as an Opposition Spokesman on Social Security, and Health from 1998 to 2003. From 2001 he has been an Opposition Spokesman for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and International Development, and from 2003 Defence.
Lord Astor is a Trustee of the Astor of Hever Trust. He is President of The Life Guards Regimental Council, the Douglas Haig Fellowship and the Durand Group (which researches and restores WW1 tunnels and trenches).
He is a former Chairman of the Rochester Cathedral Trust and a former President of Kent County Agricultural Society, the Earl Haig & the Kent branches of the Royal British Legion, the Motorsport Industry Association and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. He is a former Patron of Westerham Sea Cadets.
Lord Astor is a Deputy Lieutenant of Kent and is married with one son and four daughters.
In May 2010 Lord Astor was appointed a Lord-in-Waiting.