Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester

Biography

Prince Henry was born at York Cottage, Sandringham, in 1900, the third son of the future George V and Queen Mary. A frail and nervous child, he became the first son of a British monarch to be educated at school, at St Peter's Court in Broadstairs and from 1913 at Eton, and spent a year at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1919.

Unlike his brothers he chose the army, passing through Sandhurst and serving with the 10th Royal Hussars, though royal duties kept him from active postings abroad. Created Duke of Gloucester in 1928, he undertook tours to Japan, Ethiopia, Australia and New Zealand, ended an affair with the aviator Beryl Markham, and in 1935 married Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott; they had two sons.

After Edward VIII's abdication he was the adult next in line to act as regent. In 1939-40 he served in France as chief liaison officer to Lord Gort and narrowly escaped bombing raids, and in 1942 he made a military and diplomatic tour of the Middle East, India and East Africa.

He was Governor-General of Australia from 1945 to 1947, the only member of the royal family to hold the post. He later served as Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and represented the Queen at Malaya's independence in 1957. A series of strokes from 1965 left him incapacitated, and he died in 1974.