Death of The Duke of Westminster

[Peter Brydon]

I was sorry to hear of the death of the Duke of Westminster, he was a great supporter ( and member ) of the Territorials.

P.B.

[oc14]

Sad news, had the pleasure of meeting Colonel Gerald (as he was then) at a dinner night in Bovington. He was a great sport and found it highly amusing that during dinner one of the Subalterns had crawled under the table and tied his spurs together causing him to fall over when he stood up at the end of dinner. I think he may have been the first ever TA Brigadier, he was certainly a great friend to the Army Reserve. RIP Sir !
PL

[grey_green_acorn]

As a TA Brigadier he was succeeded by the late Professor Richard Holmes.

Tim

[RAD]

Originally Posted by oc14

Sad news, had the pleasure of meeting Colonel Gerald (as he was then) at a dinner night in Bovington. He was a great sport and found it highly amusing that during dinner one of the Subalterns had crawled under the table and tied his spurs together causing him to fall over when he stood up at the end of dinner. I think he may have been the first ever TA Brigadier, he was certainly a great friend to the Army Reserve. RIP Sir !
PL

I had the privilege of having breakfast with him at a greasy spoon near Ellesmere Port .... I was planting up several acres of wasteland nearby with trees and called into the cafe .... I was intrigued to see a couple of armoured cars parked outside and went in and sat down on my own , he called over & invited me to his table . Probably the most interesting breakfast I have had ! What a nice chap and completely unpretentious ... I recall reading that he did not send his kids to public school because he found his experience there to be so awful . Hi did an awful lot for Liverpool in general too .

[Staffsyeoman]

The TA (oh how I hate the term Army Reserve, because it isn't, really) has lost a friend at court. Literally.

[Mike_2817]

Military Career

As the Earl Grosvenor he joined the Territorial Army in 1970 as a Trooper. After entering RMA Sandhurst in 1973, he passed out as an officer cadet and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve of the Royal Armoured Corps (Queen's Own Yeomanry) on 13 May 1973.

He was promoted to Lieutenant on 13 May 1975 and to captain on 1 July 1980.He was promoted to the acting rank of Major on 1 January 1985 and to the substantive rank on 22 December.

Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on 1 April 1992, he subsequently commanded the North Irish Horse, the Cheshire Yeomanry Squadron, founded by his ancestors, and the Queen's Own Yeomanry.

He was promoted to Colonel on 31 December 1994 and was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 7th Regt Army Air Corps (1 January 1996) and the Northumbrian Universities Officer Training Corps (30 November 1995).

Promoted to Brigadier on 17 January 2000, he was also appointed Honorary Colonel of the Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry on 14 May 2001.

He was also appointed Colonel-in-Chief of the Canadian Royal Westminster Regiment, the North Irish Horse, and as Colonel Commandant Yeomanry.

The Duke was Grand Prior of the Priory of England of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St Lazarus of Jerusalem, 1995–2001.

In 2004, he was appointed to the new post of Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Reserves and Cadets), with promotion in the rank of Major General.

In March 2007, having served in the Ministry of Defence as Assistant CDS for four years, he handed over responsibility for 50,000 reservists and 138,000 cadets to Major General Simon Lalor,

The Duke became Deputy Commander Land Forces (Reserves) in May 2011.

He retired from the Armed Forces in 2012.