In Margaret Thatcher's first government, he played a major role in negotiating the Lancaster House Agreement that ended the conflict in Rhodesia and enabled the creation of Zimbabwe.

Born in Chelsea on 6 June 1919,[4][5] Peter Alexander Rupert Carington[6] was the only son of the 5th Baron Carrington by his wife, the Hon.

On leaving Eton, his housemaster, Cyril Butterwick, said of Carington, "For a really stupid boy, there are three possible professions: farming, soldiering and stockbroking".

[15] After leaving the Army, Carington became involved in politics, and served in the Conservative governments of Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden as Parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Food from November 1951 to October 1954.

[18] In this role, Carington worked with Lord Mountbatten, who was Chief of the Defence Staff, during a time of major restructuring and reform of the Admiralty.

When the Conservatives returned to power in 1970 under Edward Heath, Carington became Defence Secretary, where he remained until the February 1974 general election.

In a 1977 letter discussing the policy of torture of Irish republican internees during Operation Demetrius in August 1971, the then Home Secretary Merlyn Rees attributed the origins of the policy to Carington: '"It is my view (confirmed by Brian Faulkner before his death [NI's prime minister at the time]) that the decision to use methods of torture in Northern Ireland in 1971/72 was taken by ministers – in particular Lord Carrington, then secretary of state for defence.

"[20][21] Carington became shadow defence secretary in 1968 after Enoch Powell was dismissed, following his controversial Rivers of Blood speech on immigration.

Thatcher spoke highly of Carington, stating that "Peter had great panache and the ability to identify immediately the main points in any argument; and he could express himself in pungent terms.

"[23] Carington chaired the Lancaster House conference in 1979, attended by Ian Smith, Abel Muzorewa, Robert Mugabe, Joshua Nkomo and Josiah Tongogara, which brought to an end Rhodesia's Bush War.

Under the provisions of the act, which received Royal Assent on 29 March 1982, the British Parliament renounced any future role in amending the Canadian constitution, a process known in the former dominion as patriation.

[32] In 1991, he presided over diplomatic talks about the breakup of Yugoslavia and attempted to pass a plan to end the wars and result in each republic becoming an independent nation.

[46][43] Carington was a guest on BBC Radio 4's long-running programme Desert Island Discs in 1975[47] and on the same station's A Good Read in 2004.

This portrayal depicted the historical argument between Carington and Major Julian Cook on whether to move forward along the "Hell's Highway" route.

[49] In February 1982 Carington was portrayed by Rowan Atkinson in a Not the Nine O'Clock News parody of Question Time, pedantically discussing an imminent nuclear holocaust.