Donald MacLaren of MacLaren and Achleskine was born in 1954 and succeeded his father as Chief in 1966. He is the twenty-fifth head of the Clan since Labhran, name-forefather of the Clan eight hundred years ago. He is descended from King Lorn Mor of the late fifth century.

He has been Convenor of the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs since 2018.

Donald was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford; Trinity College Glenalmond in Perthshire, where he learned to play the pipes; and Edinburgh University, where he took a MA Hons. Degree in Classics and English and played rugby for the combined Scottish Universities XV.

He joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1978. After posting in Berlin, Moscow, Havana, Caracas, and Kiev. He also served in Tbilisi, Georgia as Her Majesty’s Ambassador. He left the FCO in 2008 and now runs a partnership (“Perfect Pitch”) teaching peoples to speak persuasively. He is also a foreign policy advisor on government relations in Eastern Europe.

Donald married Maida Jane Aitchison in 1978. They have three sons and two daughters (Donald, Florian, Louis, Iona, and Marina) and five grandchildren.

The Chief’s home is Kirkton, Balquhidder , beside Loch Voil, in the heart of the ancient dùthchas, the special patrimony of the Chiefly House of Clan Labhran.