Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (Henry William Frederick Albert; 31 March 1900 – 10 June 1974), was a member of the British royal family. He was the third son of King George V and Queen Mary, and was a younger brother of kings Edward VIII and George VI. He served as the 11th governor-general of Australia from 1945 to 1947, the only prince to hold the post.
Henry was the first son of a British monarch to be educated at school, where he excelled at sports, and went on to attend Eton College, after which he was commissioned in the 10th Royal Hussars, a regiment he hoped to command. However, his military career was frequently interrupted by royal duties, and he was nicknamed "the unknown soldier" because of his low profile. While big-game shooting in Kenya, he met the future pilot Beryl Markham, with whom he became romantically involved. The court put pressure on him to end the relationship, but he had to pay regular hush-money to avert a public scandal. In 1935, also under parental pressure, he married Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott, with whom he had two sons, princes William and Richard.
From 1939 to 1940, Henry served in France as a liaison officer to Lord Gort. He performed military and diplomatic duties during the rest of the war, then in 1945 was appointed as Australia's governor-general at the request of Prime Minister John Curtin. The post had originally been offered to his younger brother the Duke of Kent, who died in an air crash. Henry attended the coronation of his niece Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 and carried out several overseas tours, often accompanied by his wife. From 1965, he became incapacitated by a number of strokes. Upon his death, he was succeeded as the Duke of Gloucester by his only living son, Richard.
Henry was the last surviving son of King George V and Queen Mary. His widow, who died at the age of 102, became the longest-lived member of the British royal family.
Early life
Henry was born at 7:30 am on 31 March 1900 at York Cottage on the Sandringham Estate, during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria. His father was the Duke of York (later King George V), the only surviving son of the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra).Oxford Dictionary of National Biography His mother was the Duchess of York (later Queen Mary), the only daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Teck. At the time of his birth, he was fifth in the line of succession to the throne, behind his grandfather, father, and two elder brothers.
He was baptised in the private chapel at Windsor Castle on 17 May by Randall Thomas Davidson, Bishop of Winchester. Within the family he was informally known as Harry.
Childhood and education
As a child, Henry suffered from poor health, much like his elder brother Albert. He had knock knees and was required to wear leg splints, which caused considerable discomfort. He was an extremely nervous boy and was prone to sudden fits of crying or giggling. Like Albert, he had a combination of speech disorders.Edwards, Anne Matriarch Both brothers had rhotacism, which prevented them from pronouncing the sound r; while Albert's pronunciation was reminiscent of the "French r", Henry was unable to produce the sound at all, replacing it with [w]. He also had a nasal lisp and an unusually high-pitched tone, which together gave him a distinctive voice.
By 1909, Henry's health had become a matter of concern to his parents. He was small for his age and susceptible to severe colds. George wrote to Henry's tutor, Henry Peter Hansell, that he should be treated differently from his more robust elder brothers, noting, "You must remember that he is rather fragile and must be treated differently to his two elder brothers who are more robust".
On 6 May 1910, George succeeded to the throne as George V, and Henry became third in line to the throne. Hansell persuaded the King that attending school would benefit Henry's character by allowing him to mix with boys of his own age. Although the King had previously rejected the idea for his elder sons, he agreed on the grounds that it would help Henry "behave like a boy and not like a little child". Henry thus became the first son of a British monarch to attend school. After three days at St Peter's Court in Broadstairs as a day boy, Hansell observed that he enjoyed the experience and asked the King to allow him to board, which he approved.
Henry spent three years at St Peter’s Court. He was not academically gifted, although he showed an aptitude for mathematics. His chief interest was sport, particularly cricket and football. His mother once wrote to him in exasperation, "All you write about is your everlasting football of which I am heartily sick", replying to a detailed letter he had sent about a match.
In September 1913, Henry entered Eton College. During the First World War, Crown Prince Leopold of Belgium, later Leopold III, was a member of his house, Mr Lubbock's. Henry's academic performance did not improve, but his nerves and general disposition did. He made friends through his enthusiasm for sport, and his masters regarded him favourably, describing him as "thoroughly willing, cheerful, modest & obedient". These qualities were valued highly by his father, who had little interest in what he termed "intellectuals".
By the time he began his studies at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1919 with Albert, Henry had outgrown all his brothers in height and build and enjoyed good health. Their time at Cambridge lasted only a year and was uneventful, as they were not permitted to live in college with the other undergraduates owing to the King's concern about their mixing with unsuitable company.
Military career
Unlike his brothers, Henry joined the Army rather than the Royal Navy. He attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in 1919, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the King's Royal Rifle Corps on 16 July. On 16 July 1921, he was promoted to lieutenant in the 10th Royal Hussars, with whom he continued to serve. Although he wished to undertake more active military duties, his position as a senior member of the royal family effectively precluded such roles. He retained a strong interest in sport, and The Cricketer reported in August 1921 that the touring Philadelphians had been presented to Henry at The Oval.
Henry was promoted to captain on 11 May 1927, and was appointed a personal aide-de-camp to his father on 2 August 1929. On 3 March 1931, he was appointed a staff captain and was seconded for service with the 2nd Cavalry Brigade. He was brevetted to major on 2 August 1934, and, during his father's Silver Jubilee the following May, was appointed Colonel-in-Chief of the Gloucestershire Regiment. On 6 July 1935, he was promoted to the substantive rank of major, his final rank as an actively serving officer. On 23 June 1936, he was appointed a personal aide-de-camp to his eldest brother, Edward VIII.
Following Edward's abdication and the accession of Albert as George VI, Henry was effectively retired from active duty and received a ceremonial promotion to major‑general on 1 January 1937, skipping three ranks. He was also granted a Royal Air Force commission as air vice-marshal on the same day. He continued to serve as a personal aide-de-camp to the new king, receiving this appointment on 1 February. On 12 March, he received the colonelcy of his former regiment, the 10th Royal Hussars, together with the colonelcies of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and the Gordon Highlanders. On 28 May, he received an honorary appointment as a captain in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, followed on 10 November by the honorary colonelcies of the Ceylon Planters' Rifle Corps and the Ceylon Light Infantry (now the Sri Lanka Light Infantry).
After the outbreak of World War II, he joined the British Expeditionary Force, and was appointed Chief Liaison Officer on 4 September 1939. In January 1940, he was appointed to the colonelcies of the Ulster Anti‑Aircraft Regiments of the Royal Artillery in the Territorial Army. He was slightly wounded in 1940 when his staff car was attacked from the air. In August 1940, he was appointed Chief Liaison Officer, GHQ Home Forces. He also became second-in-command of the 20th Light Armoured Brigade that year, and was promoted to lieutenant-general on 17 September 1941. On 27 October 1944, he was promoted to the rank of full general.
He was appointed a Field Marshal in 1955 and a Marshal of the Royal Air Force in 1958.
Duke of Gloucester
On 31 March 1928, his father created him Duke of Gloucester, Earl of Ulster, and Baron Culloden, three titles that linked him with England, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. Later that year, Henry visited Canada.
Before his marriage, Henry's chief ambition was to command his regiment, the 10th Royal Hussars, or at least to spend as much time in the Army as possible. Although he was a capable officer, his position as the King's son prevented him from serving with his regiment overseas, and he was therefore regarded as something of an outsider by his fellow officers. To his increasing frustration, he was required to undertake the many royal duties assigned to him by his father.
In September 1928, Henry left England with his brother Edward to shoot big game in Africa. The brothers parted in Nairobi, where Henry remained for a time. He was entertained there by Mansfield Markham and his wife, Beryl Markham. Henry and Beryl began an affair, although sources differ on when it started; many state that it did not begin until her later visit to England. In November, the brothers were recalled to England owing to their father’s worsening health, and Beryl soon returned as well. At the Grosvenor Hotel, near Buckingham Palace, the affair continued, with Henry openly hosting parties in her suite and drinking heavily.
The affair, widely known in London society, shocked the Queen, much to the amusement of the Prince of Wales, who remarked that "for once, Queen Mary's blue-eyed boy was in trouble instead of himself". The King intervened, believing that keeping Henry occupied would help end the affair and curb his drinking. That year, he arranged a series of tours for his son to undertake.
In 1929, Henry travelled to Japan to confer the Garter on the Emperor, and the following year he attended the coronation of Haile Selassie of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa. In 1934, George V appointed him a Knight of St Patrick, Ireland's chivalric order. It was the second‑to‑last time the order was awarded; at the time of his death, Henry was its only surviving knight. Later in 1934, he visited Australia and New Zealand, where he was received with such enthusiasm that one journalist wrote it "(amounted) to something very near adoration".
Marriage and family
When Henry returned from his visit to Japan in 1929, his affair with Beryl Markham came to an end. Her husband sought a divorce and threatened to disclose Henry's private letters to his wife unless he was prepared to "take care of Beryl". Henry and Beryl did not meet again, although she wrote to him when he visited Kenya in 1950 with his wife; he did not reply. Henry's solicitors paid her an annuity until her death in 1985.
After his tour of Australia and New Zealand, and under pressure from his parents, Henry decided it was time to settle and proposed to Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott, sister of one of his closest friends, Lord William Montagu Douglas Scott. Alice later wrote that the proposal was not romantic, as "it was not his way", and that he simply "mumbled it as we were on a walk one day". The wedding had originally been planned for Westminster Abbey, but was moved to the Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace following the death of Alice's father, the Duke of Buccleuch, on 19 October 1935. After two miscarriages, Alice gave birth to two sons: Prince William of Gloucester (18 December 1941 – 28 August 1972)