The forgotten Duke of Kent in The Rake

One of the more mysterious members of the modern British Royal family was the Queen’s uncle, George, Duke of Kent (1902-1942). The father of the current Duke (born 1935), Princess Alexandra, The Hon Lady Ogilvy (born 1936) and Prince Michael of Kent (born 1942), George was the now-oft-forgotten brother of Edward VIII and George VI. I have outlined his remarkable story and some of the myths about him in issue 28 of The Rake.

Killed in an unsolved plane crash in northern Scotland, he was the first Royal to die in active service for several hundred years. His life before World War II was scandalous, with serial affairs with men and women, drug addiction, homosexuality and illegitimate children all linked to him. Added to all that, he was as much of a clothes horse as his older brother, Edward (the Prince of Wales, briefly Edward VIII and lastly Duke of Windsor). In 1934 he married Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark (he was the last British royal to marry a foreign royal) and the pair became society favourites in the late 1930s.

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