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The 17th Earl of Perth, who died on Monday aged 95, was an efficient and emollient Minister of State for Colonial Affairs when the Empire went into rapid decline after the Suez crisis.

Although he had never been a member of the Conservative Party and had voted against the Eden government, Perth had made sufficient impression on the Lords for Harold Macmillan to appoint him to the post on becoming prime minister in 1957.

He was first given the task of chairing a government committee to study the problem of financing the economic development of "emergent territories". But in the course of visiting the colonies in Asia and Africa he realised that time had run out for the Empire, and found himself involved in numerous constitutional conferences on independence.

When Lord Devlin wrote a scathing report on serious rioting in Nyasaland (now Malawi), he teetered on the edge of resignation, with the Colonial Secretary Alan Lennox-Boyd. But he stayed on to work with Iain Macleod, who speeded up the decolonisation process and in the process earned the strongest criticism from Tory peers.

Perth's personal popularity, straightforward manner and palpable honesty enabled him to deflect Lord Salisbury's fierce attack on Macleod, for wanting to dish the Central African Federation. Although Macleod's character and record are still deplored by some, Perth remained a strong defender, claiming that he was doing his best in the most difficult circumstances.

In addition, Perth was a keen Europhile. Deeply conscious of his father's role on the international stage as the first secretary-general of the League of Nations, he arranged a meeting in his flat during the early 1960s between Edward Heath, the minister responsible for the EEC negotiations, and Jean Monnet, the "father" of European union.

John David Drummond was born on May 13 1907 into a family of Hungarian origin which, according to tradition, is descended from a Drummond who arrived in Scotland from Hungary during the 11th century.

A Drummond who was Constable of Stirling Castle became a Lord of Parliament in the 1480s, and the Earldom of Perth was created for the 4th Lord Drummond, in 1605. The Viscountcy of Strathallan was created in 1686 for a descendant of the 2nd Lord Drummond.

After King James II was driven from the throne in 1688, the 4th Earl joined the Jacobite Court at St Germains, where he was advanced to the rank of Duke.

In 1853, the Earldom and other pre-Jacobite peerages were restored to George Drummond, nephew of the de jure 13th Earl of Perth, a domestic prelate to the Pope, by Act of Parliament.

The Perth and Strathallan peerages were united in the 20th century, when the 11th Viscount Strathallan succeeded his kinsman, the 14th Earl of Perth, in 1902.

Young David was the only son of Eric Drummond and Angela Constable Maxwell, a daughter of the 11th Lord Herries. His father, who was to become the 16th Earl of Perth and 12th Viscount Strathallan on the death of his half-brother in 1937, was a career diplomat. He served as private secretary to the Prime Minister Herbert Asquith and attended the Paris peace conference in 1919, before heading the League of Nations until 1933; his final post was as Ambassador in Rome.

David went to Downside, where he excelled at athletics but most enjoyed watching The Perils of Pauline. He then went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, before joining J Henry Schroder, the merchant bank. For a time he worked with Monnet, then a financial adviser to the Chinese government.

On the outbreak of war David was sent to Paris to help Noel Coward run a propaganda office. When the entertainer was told that his title of Viscount Strathallan would help, he facetiously commented that if the French were so Debrett-minded it might be better to get a young duke instead.

But they got on well, and Coward later declared that his assistant ran the office more efficiently than he did. After the Fall of France, Strathallan was sent to the United States to sound out American feeling about the war, then worked in the War Cabinet Office and at the Ministry of Production.

With the return of peace he went back to Schroder's to become a director in 1946 and, after succeeding to the Earldom in 1951, was elected a Scottish representative peer.

He made his mark in a different way during the Coronation in 1953, when an official in Westminster Abbey protested that he was inappropriately dressed; Perth replied that he was wearing a Scottish earl's robes of 1632.

On leaving the government in 1962, he was invited to become First Crown Estates Commissioner. This involved supervising the revenue from properties which successive sovereigns have surrendered to Parliament in return for the Civil List. They include parts of Regent's Park, Regent Street, Piccadilly Circus and St James's. But these had been severely damaged during the war, and Perth did much to ensure the process of modernisation and increased profitability.

He also served as chairman of the Reviewing Committee for the Export of Works of Art, and as a member of the advisory council of the Victoria and Albert Museum. He helped to raise money for the Museum of Scotland, was a trustee of the National Library of Scotland, a member of the Court of St Andrews University, and a director of the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Perth continued to play an active role in the Lords. He repeatedly introduced a private member's Bill into the Lords to reform the law relating to treasure trove, though the change was eventually achieved by Anthony Grant in the Commons.

He vigorously opposed attempts to remove steelmaking and ship-repairing facilities from Scotland, and was for many years a keen supporter of a Scottish assembly, warning in 1976 that the Scotch voter was determined to back any party which supported it; however, when the Parliament finally arrived he was concerned about the inevitable conflicts that would stem from its tax-raising powers.

As the government changed the constitution of the House of Lords, it was suggested that Perth could challenge his removal on the grounds that he was both a hereditary peer and the last Scottish representative peer; but at 92, he felt that the effort was not worthwhile.

Perth owned no land in Scotland until the Earl of Ancaster sold him in 1954 the partially ruined Stobhall, by Perth, which had been the original family stronghold.

With the help of his wife, he embarked on a restoration programme to turn it into one of Scotland's most attractive small castles. He bought adjoining land, and built a library where he indulged his passion as a bibliophile.

While no scholar, Perth chose an illustrated travel diary by a Miss Parker who toured Scotland in the 1863 for his contribution to the Roxburghe Club collectors' library. He was particularly delighted to have been able to commission a Tern Press edition of Alice Through the Looking Glass, which contained 56 illustrations by the artist Nicholas Parry, that had used Stobhall for their background. The estate also enabled him to continue with his fly fishing; and he remained an enthusiastic shot, even though he was twice shot in the face by mistake at shoots.

He was a keen promoter of Anglo-American relations, taking holidays in Florida and for three years chairing the Ditchley Foundation. As Chief of the Drummond clan, he keenly nurtured his clansmen overseas, particularly in Spain and Brazil, where he found himself feted on a visit in the 1970s.

Lord Perth was also 20th Lord Drummond of Cargill and Stobhall, 17th Lord Maderty, Hereditary Thane of Lennox, and Hereditary Steward of Menteith and Strathearn. He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1957.

As a prominent Roman Catholic, he represented Britain at the last and most solemn of nine Requiem Masses for Pope Pius XII in Rome in 1958. He went again in 1963 to represent the Queen at the Requiem for Pope John XXIII. He was for some years the Catholic vice-president of the Council of Christians and Jews. In his later years he could be seen at Downside Abbey over Easter, a still upright figure, often clad in pink corduroy trousers.

Perth married, at Southampton, Long Island, in 1934, Nancy, daughter of Reginald Fincke, of New York; she died in 1996. They had two sons, the elder of whom, Viscount Strathallan, born in 1935, becomes the 18th Earl of Perth.