As Earl of Dalkeith, he had a brief term on the board of Border Television from 1989 to 1990, and in 1994 he joined the Millennium Commission as the representative for Northern England. He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 2000 New Year Honours for his services to the Millennium Celebrations, leaving the commission in 2003. He was president of the National Trust for Scotland from 2003 to 2012, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE).