He was devoted to charitable projects, and with his more famous wife Nancy became a prominent fixture in upper class English society.

As a wedding gift, Waldorf's father gave him and his bride the Sancy diamond and the family estate at Cliveden, which Nancy redecorated and modernised with the installation of electricity.

Despite his political affiliation, Astor quickly demonstrated his independence by his support for the so-called "People's Budget" and the National Insurance Act of 1911.

[1] In 1911, Astor was approached by James Louis Garvin, the editor of The Observer, about purchasing the newspaper from its owner, the press baron Lord Northcliffe.

Having been diagnosed with a bad heart, Astor was unable to serve in combat and instead fought waste and inefficiency in munitions production.

[8] When his friend David Lloyd George became prime minister and formed a new coalition government, Astor became his parliamentary private secretary.

He was appointed Honorary Colonel of the Devonport, Plymouth-based Devonshire Heavy Brigade, Royal Artillery of the Territorial Army on 5 April 1929.

He later bought two other fillies/mares called Maid of the Mist and Popinjay and these three became the foundation mares of Astor's Cliveden Stud that he established near to his home.

Many of their associates felt sympathy for the state of Germany after World War I, feared Communism, and supported the position of the British government.

Astor had antisemitic views and in the 1930s he told Thomas Jones that Germany was criticised because, "Newspapers are influenced by those firms which advertise so largely in the press and are frequently under Jewish control.

His son David Astor, who became owner and editor of The Observer in 1948, never forgave Claud Cockburn and his newssheet The Week for attacks on the "Cliveden Set".