D-Day: Family tribute to 'fearless' Lord Lovat as statue unveiled in France

A second statue of 15th Lord Lovat, the Highland brigadier who led Commandos onto Sword Beach during D-Day, is being unveiled in France on the 80th anniversary of the Normandy Landings.

Lord Lovat, former chief of Clan Fraser of Lovat whose family seat was Beaufort Castle near Beauly, led the 1st Special Services Brigade, which combined Royal Marine and British Army Commandos under one command for the first time, during Operation Overlord.

After landing on Sword Beach, Lord Lovat pushed his men towards Pegasus Bridge, which had been successfully seized by paratroopers, before marching onwards to Amfreville, which was then liberated by 3 Commando. It is here the new statue will be unveiled.

Simon Fraser, the 15th Lord Lovat (1911 - 1995). PIC: M. McNeill/Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The bronze bust, by sculptor Dan Robert, will be installed opposite the farm where the 1st Special Services Brigade made their headquarters on the evening of June 6, 1944.

The statue will be the second in Normandy to commemorate Lord Lovat, who Winston Churchill described to Joseph Stalin as “the mildest-mannered man that ever scuttled ship or cut a throat”. The first stands overlooking Sword Beach.

Descendants of Lord Lovat, who was read the last rites a week after D-Day, but recovered from his injuries, are travelling to Amfreville in Calvados for the unveiling.

Sculptor Dan Robert works on the bronze bust of Lord Lovat, which will be unveiled on the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

Drusilla Fraser, Lord Lovat’s daughter-in-law, described him as having “a presence, a fearlessness and a great sense of humour”.

She said: “Mr father-in-law had great presence and a bearing about him. A lot of people these days are tragically unimpressive. He never talked about the war. I think when you saw what they saw, they were very reticent to talk about it."

Mrs Fraser, the wife of the late Hugh (Hugo) Fraser, one of Lord Lovat’s six children, said: “My husband was at the mart one day and this man came up to him and said ‘are you one of Lord Lovat’s sons?’

"Hugo said ‘yes I am’ and the man said ‘I was on the beach with your father on D-Day’. He explained there were men hiding behind rocks, cowering, weeping – they were terrified, not surprisingly.

“And the man said ‘but your father just walked up and down the beach saying get out from behind those rocks and line up’. He was absolutely absolutely fearless, invincible.”

Lord Lovat later recalled walking onto Pegasus Bridge with a bible in his pocket as Commandos came under attack.

Mrs Fraser said: “They got over the bridge and they were approaching a little village and there was a field with a horse with it. My father-in-law said to one of his men ‘go and get a bucket of water, that horse is dying of thirst’. Again, in the middle of battle, he noticed the state of this animal. That was my father-in-law.

“We had a close relationship. He was countryman at heart, he knew the names of every tree, plant on the estate. He knew everything about his estate, the people here … he was rather loved. He was deeply loved, actually.”

The new statue of Lord Lovat will sit close to another of Phillippe Kieffer, who led the only French Commando unit on D-Day with his fighters at Amfreville along with Lord Lovat and his men.