Bruce Shand | |
|---|---|
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| Birth name | Bruce Middleton Hope Shand |
| Born | (1917-01-22)22 January 1917 London, England |
| Died | 11 June 2006(2006-06-11) (aged 89) Stourpaine,Dorset, England |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Branch | British Army |
| Years of service | 1937–1947 |
| Rank | Major |
| Commands | HQ Squadron, Half Squadron of12th Lancers, "C" Squadron[1] |
| Battles / wars | Second World War |
| Awards | MC and bar |
| Spouse | |
| Children | |
| Relations | Philip Morton Shand (father) Edith Marguerite Harrington (mother) Elspeth Howe (half-sister) Charles III (son-in-law) |
| Other work | Deputy Lieutenant ofSussex Vice-Lieutenant of EastSussex Exon andAdjutant of theQueen's Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard |
Bruce Middleton Hope Shand (22 January 1917 – 11 June 2006) was anofficer in theBritish Army who served in France as part of theBritish Expeditionary Force during the Second World War. He was the father ofQueen Camilla.
After the war he became a wine merchant. He wasVice-Lord-Lieutenant ofEast Sussex from 1974 until 1992 and was aMaster of Foxhounds.[2]
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Bruce Middleton Hope Shand was born in London into an upper-classlanded gentry family whose ancestors had moved to England from Scotland.[3]
He was the only son ofPhilip Morton Shand (1888–1960), an architectural writer and critic (from his first marriage). His father was a close friend ofWalter Gropius andLe Corbusier and whose company,Finmar, imported furniture byAlvar Aalto to the United Kingdom. His mother wasEdith Marguerite Harrington (1893–1981), later Mrs.Herbert Charles Tippet.
His parents divorced when he was three years old. His father went on to remarry three times. Shand did not see his father again until he was 18. One of his two half-sisters wasBaroness Howe of Idlicote, wife of formerChancellor of the Exchequer andDeputy Prime MinisterLord Howe of Aberavon.[4]
Shand's mother remarriedHerbert Charles Tippet, a golf course designer. Contrary to some newspaper reports, young Shand was not abandoned by his mother and stepfather but was taken to live with them in Westbury, Long Island, New York, in 1921. He left out this fact from hisautobiography, giving the erroneous impression of having been abandoned.
After visiting England in June 1923, Bruce and his mother returned to the US in September 1923 with the stated intent (according to US immigration records) of residing permanently in the United States and taking US citizenship. When he next returned to Britain it was to begin his education, organised and paid for by his grandparents. His mother and stepfather returned to Britain in 1927, then moved to Ireland in the 1930s. His stepfather died atRye in 1947 and his mother died inCooden Beach, Sussex, in 1981.[1][4]
Shand was sent to France to learn French. He was educated atRugby andSandhurst and was commissioned into the12th Lancers as asecond lieutenant on 28 January 1937.[5] He became a troop leader in "A" Squadron. His interests includedfox hunting,polo and reading.[6]
Shand was promoted tolieutenant on 28 January 1940.[7] He served in France as part of theBritish Expeditionary Force. The 12th Lancers were equipped with lightly armedMorris armoured cars in a reconnaissance role. The regiment spent six months atFoncquevillers during thePhoney War, then advanced to theRiver Dyle and retreated in the face of the Germanblitzkrieg. He aided in covering the withdrawal toDunkirk, from where hewas evacuated back to England, arriving atMargate on 31 May 1940.[4] For his actions, he was awarded anMC on 5 July 1940.[8]
After a period with the regiment inPoole and inReigate, and an interlude training theNorth Irish Horse in Northern Ireland, Shand was sent with the regiment to North Africa in September 1941 as part of the7th Armoured Division, where he was promoted to the temporary rank ofcaptain. He earned his second MC in January 1942, covering the withdrawal of armoured cars of the6th Rajputana Rifles in the face of a strong counterattack by the GermanAfrika Corps.[4] The award was gazetted on 9 July of that year.[9]
He metWinston Churchill shortly before theSecond Battle of El Alamein.[6] On 6 November 1942, on a probe towardsMarsa Matruh, his vehicle was surrounded and destroyed. Shand's two crewmen were killed, and he was wounded. He was captured and taken to Germany as aprisoner of war.[10] After treatment inAthens, he was held atOflag IX A inSpangenberg Castle; he escaped when the Germans evacuated the castle and marched the prisoners further from Allied forces.[1] While a prisoner of war, he was promoted to the rank of war-substantive captain and to the substantive rank of captain on 28 January 1945.[11]
After his liberation in 1945, Shand returned to England. On 2 January 1946, he married the Hon.Rosalind Maud Cubitt, daughter ofRoland Cubitt, 3rd Baron Ashcombe, andSonia Rosemary Keppel, atSt Paul's Church, Knightsbridge. They had two daughters,Camilla (born 1947) andAnnabel (born 1949), and a son,Mark (1951–2014).[10]
On 25 April 1947, Shand was retired from the army on account of disability and was granted the honorary rank of major.[12] Shand had a country house,The Laines inPlumpton, East Sussex, and a town house inSouth Kensington, but in later life moved toDorset.[1]
He had various business interests, most notably as a partner in Block, Grey, and Block, a firm ofwine merchants inSouth Audley Street,Mayfair, and later joined Ellis, Son and Vidler ofHastings and London.[13] Shand was a reviewer of military books forCountry Life magazine. In 1990, he wrote a war memoir entitledPrevious Engagements[4] and was the editor of the memoirs of a fellow army officer, Tim Bishop, titledOne Young Soldier: The Memoirs of a Cavalryman, which was published in 1993. Shand compiled Bishop's diaries into a book after his death in 1986.[14]
Shand was aDeputy Lieutenant ofSussex and wasVice-Lord-Lieutenant ofEast Sussex from 1974 until 1992. He remained passionate aboutfox hunting and was Master of Southdown Fox Hounds from 1956 to 1975. He was Exon and laterAdjutant and Clerk of the Cheque of theQueen's Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard.[10] Shand supported theConservative Party in the UK.
In 1993, Shand reportedly reproachedCharles, Prince of Wales at a private event for ruining his daughter's life after their relationship became public. After a period of a strained relationship, both men eventually grew to like each other.[4]
His wife, Rosalind, died on 14 July 1994, aged 72, having long suffered fromosteoporosis.[6]
Shand, who had a history ofcancer, died ofnatural causes on 11 June 2006 at his home inStourpaine, Dorset, aged 89, surrounded by his family.[15][16]
On 16 June, Shand's funeral service was held at the Trinity Church in Stourpaine and was attended by the then Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall. After the service, his body wascremated.[17]
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| Country | Date | Appointment | Ribbon | Post-nominal letters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 5 July 1940 | Military Cross |  | MC | [8] Promoted to MC & Bar in 1942 |
| January 1942 | Military Cross with Bar | | MC & Bar | [4][9][18] | |
| 1939–1945 Star |  | [18] | |||
| Africa Star |  | ||||
| France and Germany Star | | ||||
| War Medal 1939–1945 | | ||||
| 2 June 1953 | Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal | | |||
| 6 February 1977 | Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal | |
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