The Duke of Gloucester’s 70th Birthday

Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester celebrates his seventieth birthday today.

Prince Richard of Gloucester was born on August 26, 1944 at Hadley Common in Hertfordshire. He is the youngest son and child of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester and his wife, Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott. He had a brother, Prince William, who was killed in 1972 in a plane crash.

He was christened on October 20, 1944 at Windsor Castle’s private chapel by Cosmo Lang, then Archbishop of Canterbury. His godparents were the Queen Mother, Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein, Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, the Duke of Buccleuch, the Marquess of Cambridge, Lady Sybil Phipps and Sir Harold Alexander. As the christening took place while Britain was at war, the christening’s location was only referred to as taking place “at a private chapel in the country”. His full name was announced as Richard Alexander Walter George.

Prince Richard married Birgitte van Deurs, the daughter of Asger Henriksen and Vivian van Deurs, a Dane. Their wedding took place on July 8, 1972 at St Andrew’s Church near Barnwell in Northamptonshire. The couple have three children: Alexander Windsor, Earl of Ulster (b. 1974), Lady Davina Lewis (b. 1977) and Lady Rose Gilman (b. 1980). They also have six grandchildren; Xan Windsor, Lord Culloden and Lady Cosima Windsor, Senna and Tāne Lewis, and Lyla and Rufus Gilman.

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