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His family surname is spelled Carington (single 'r'), whilst the peerage is Carrington (double 'r').
Educated at Eton and RMA Sandhurst, he served as a major in the Grenadier Guards in the Second World War.
He had an unbroken run of consecutive government positions for over 30 years, serving as Parliamentary Secretary for MAFF from November 1951, then for the MOD from October 1954 to October 1956. He was High Commissioner to Austrialia from then until October 1959, First Lord of the Admiralty until October 1963, then Leader of the House of Lords for a year until October 1964, when the Conservativess fell from power, becoming Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords until 1970 and again from 1974 'til 1979, in between which he was Defence Secretary, and then, for a month from January to February 1974, Secretary of State for Energy. In 1979 he was made Foreign Secretary as part of the first Cabinet of Margaret Thatcher, being in post when the Falkland Islands were invaded by Argentina, over which he resigned.
He also served as Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1972 to 1974, and as Secretary-General of NATO from 1983 to 1988. He was made Chancellor of Reading University in 1992, and has served as the Chairman of several companies, including Christie's, and as a Director of many others, including Barclays Bank and Schweppes.
He was made a life peer in 1999 in order that he could continue to sit in the House of Lords. His life peerage title is Baron Carington of Upton (with one 'r').
He married, on the 25 April, 1942, to Iona McClean.
{| border="2" align="center"
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|width="30%" align="center"|Preceded by:
Rupert Carrington
|width="40%" align="center"|Baron Carrington
|width="30%" align="center" rowspan="2"|Followed by:
Current Incumbent
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