Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester

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Today marks the Anniversary of the Birth of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, who was born on this day in 1900! The fourth child of King George V and Queen Mary, he was the brother of King Edward VIII, King George VI, Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood, and Prince George, Duke of Kent, and was the first son of a British monarch to be educated at school, going to St Peter’s Court in Broadstairs where he excelled at sports, before attending Eton College and then going to Trinity College, Cambridge, after which he was commissioned in the 10th Royal Hussars, which he continued alongside his Royal Duties, which included representing his parents at many official events around the world, being made the Duke of Gloucester in 1928. In 1935, Prince Henry married Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott, daughter of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, just weeks after the death of her father and a few weeks before the death of his. The couple had two sons, Prince William and Prince Richard, and resided at Barnwell Manor in Northamptonshire and York House, St James’s Palace. The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester were active members of the royal family, and he served as Governor-General of Australia from 1945 to 1947, travelling around Australia on their personal plane. The Duke and Duchess continued their duties into the reign of his niece, Queen Elizabeth II, though a serious car crash in 1965 and several later strokes left him confined to a wheelchair and unable to speak for the rest of his life. In 1972, their eldest son died in a plane crash and the Duke passed away two years later, in 1974, the last surviving child of King George V and Queen Mary. Princess Alice passed away in 2004, becoming the longest-lived member of the British Royal Family.

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