Harold Macmillan.

The grandson of publisher Daniel Macmillan, co-founder of Macmillan Publishers, Harold Macmillan was born in Chelsea, London in 1894. He attended Summer Fields School, then Eton College, and finally Balliol College, Oxford. During World War I he served with the Grenadier Guards and fought at the Battle of the Somme in 1916, an experience that shaped his political outlook.

Macmillan entered politics as the Conservative candidate for Stockton-on-Tees in 1924 and won the seat. He lost it in 1929 but returned to Parliament in 1931. His left-wing views put him at odds with party leaders Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain, yet he rose to senior posts: Minister of Defence from October 1954 to April 1955, and Foreign Secretary from April to December 1955. In 1957, after Anthony Eden’s resignation over the Suez Crisis, Macmillan became Prime Minister. The Profumo scandal troubled his term; it was depicted in the 1989 film Scandal. He resigned in October 1963 due to ill health and was succeeded by Alec Douglas-Home.

In 1920, Macmillan married Dorothy Cavendish, daughter of the 9th Duke of Devonshire. They had four children: Maurice, Caroline, Catherine, and Sarah. Dorothy died in 1966. In later years, Macmillan was a fierce critic of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, opposing her right-wing policies and stance on European integration.

Macmillan’s unexpected rise to prime minister after the Suez Crisis and his handling of the Profumo scandal are key parts of his legacy. In 1984, Queen Elizabeth II created him the first hereditary peer in over 20 years, as Earl of Stockton. His nickname Supermac and his pragmatic conservatism define him as a central figure in mid-20th century British politics.