Viscount Astor

Viscountcy of Astor
Arms of Viscount Astor: Or, a falcon resting on a dexter hand couped at the wrist proper and gauntleted gules in chief two fleurs-de-lys of the last[1]
Creation date	28 June 1917 [2]
Created by	King George V
Peerage	Peerage of the United Kingdom
First holder	William Waldorf Astor, 1st Baron Astor
Present holder	William Astor, 4th Viscount Astor
Heir apparent	The Hon. William Astor
Remainder to	Heirs male of the first viscount's body, lawfully begotten
Subsidiary titles	Baron Astor
Seat(s)	Ginge Manor
Former seat(s)	Hever Castle Cliveden
Motto	Ad Astra ("To the stars")[3]

Viscount Astor, of Hever Castle in the County of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1917 for the financier and statesman William Waldorf Astor, 1st Baron Astor. He had already been created Baron Astor, of Hever Castle in the County of Kent, in 1916, also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.^[4]

His eldest son Waldorf, the second Viscount, was the husband of Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, the first woman to sit in the House of Commons. As of 2017^[update], the titles are held by their grandson, the fourth Viscount, who succeeded his father in 1966. He is one of the ninety-two elected hereditary peers that remain in the House of Lords after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999, and sits as a Conservative.

John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever, was the third son of the first Viscount. This peerage, Baron Astor of Hever, was a separate creation in 1956 and not to be confused with the Viscount's subsidiary title of Baron Astor, of Hever Castle in the County of Kent. The Hon. David Astor CH, the Hon. Michael Astor and the Hon. Sir Jakie Astor, younger sons of the second Viscount, all gained prominence in public life.

The family seat is Ginge Manor, near Wantage, Oxfordshire.

The first three Viscounts Astor are buried within the Astor family chapel (also known as the Octagon Temple) at the Cliveden estate near Taplow, Buckinghamshire.^[5]

• William Waldorf Astor, 1st Baron Astor (1848–1919) (created Viscount Astor in 1917)

• William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor (1848–1919)^[4]
• Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor (1879–1952)^[6]
• William Waldorf Astor, 3rd Viscount Astor (1907–1966)^[7]
• William Waldorf Astor, 4th Viscount Astor (born 1951)^[7]

The heir apparent is the present holder's eldest son, the Hon. William Waldorf Astor (born 1979).
The heir apparent's heir apparent is his son, William Waldorf Astor (born 2012).

• Baron Astor of Hever
• Astor family

• Cracroft's Peerage page^{[unreliable source?]}
• Hesilrige, Arthur G. M. (1921). Debrett's Peerage and Titles of courtesy. London: London: Dean & son, limited. p. 71.