Lord Michael Fitzalan Howard RIP

Kyt · Nov 5, 2007

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/news/2007/11/05/db0501.xml

Major-General Lord Michael Fitzalan Howard, who died on November 2 aged 91, earned an MC in north-west Europe during the Second World War; later he became Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps, responsible for easing the tensions and uncertainties in ambassadors and high commissioners as he escorted them in the State landau to present their credentials to the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

Tall, dignified and supremely elegant in cocked hat with white plumes, he had an easy, suggestively ducal manner that led many who saw them together to believe that he, not his elder brother Miles, was the 17th Duke of Norfolk.

The brothers were only 15 months apart in age, and maintained a friendly rivalry throughout their military careers. Both won their MCs in 1944, and they followed each other up the promotion ladder to become colonels in 1958 and brigadiers in 1961 until Miles attained the rank of major-general in 1968, three months ahead of his younger sibling.

Michael Fitzalan Howard was born on October 22 1916, one of four boys and four girls, all of whom were given Christian names beginning with M by their parents, the 3rd Lord Howard of Glossop and the 11th Baroness Beaumont.

The children grew up in an atmosphere of piety and frugal economy at Carlton Towers, their mother's ancestral seat in North Yorkshire, said never to have been bought or sold since the Conquest.

If guests came to lunch the children were not allowed to use napkins, but were told to leave them by their plates to save on the laundry bill.

On rainy days Miles and Michael would run round the table in the nursery, pretending to be the Flying Scotsman and shunting their sister Mariegold, a goods train, into a corner that represented a siding.

The two boys went to Ampleforth before Miles went up to Christ Church, Oxford, and Michael to Trinity College, Cambridge.

Miles was commissioned into the Grenadiers, and Michael into the Scots Guards. After the declaration of war they knelt before their mother as she made the Sign of the Cross on their foreheads; they then left to rejoin their regiments. Their mother retained vivid memories of her brothers departing for the First World War and not returning.

In August 1944 both young men were tank officers at Caumont, aiding the breakout from Caen in Normandy.

Miles was brigade major of 5th Armoured Brigade and Michael a squadron leader with the 3rd Scots, while their younger brother, Martin, was a tank commander with the 2nd Grenadiers.

As Miles's brigade became embroiled in a four-day duel with tough SS troops holding an isolated position at La Marvindiere, Michael and Martin were (unknown to each other) engaged a few miles to the south in the same battle.

An attack on the hamlet of Estry met with unexpectedly fierce resistance from troops under orders to fight to the last man, and Michael was ordered to make the final assault of the day on the crossroads.

Maintaining his squadron in the closest formation to secure the objective, he provided firm support for the Highland Light Infantry and the remnants of a Gordons unit, until finally ordered to withdraw under intense mortar fire at 3am.

Martin then took the lead in an attack on Viessoix, just past Estry, in which his hands and face were badly burned when his tank was hit.

Five miles away, on the same day, Michael was ordered to support a Welsh Guards' attack on an observation post, which involved using deep ravines that made the going all the harder under heavy fire as they moved up to capture a vital ridge near Chenedolle.

In both his Estry attack and in this action, the citation for his MC declared, "Major Fitzalan Howard's cool leadership and undefeatable determination contributed more than any other single factor to the obtaining of those objectives".

Shortly afterwards, Michael became brigade major of 32nd Brigade, alongside Miles in the Guards Armoured Division, for the advance on Brussels.

With Miles on the left and Michael on the right, Major-General Sir Allan Adair gave them the objective of capturing Brussels, 70 miles away, declaring that the city's railway bridge was to be the winning-post in the fraternal race. Michael won.

Later Michael broke through to Eindhoven, where Miles took over from him. Michael's men then paused for rest and refuelling, and his game book recorded some partridge shooting in the rain before the division pushed on to the Elbe. Looking back on a campaign that covered 1,500 miles and cost 956 killed and 545 missing, Adair wrote: "Special mention must be made of the two brigade majors – the Fitzalan Howard brothers."

After the war Michael Fitzalan Howard was best man at his brother Miles's wedding in 1949; and he continued with his Army career.

He was brigade major with the 1st Guards Brigade in Palestine, instructed at the Haifa and Camberley staff colleges and was second-in-command of the 1st battalion, Scots Guards, in the Suez Canal Zone. He received command of the 2nd battalion, then became chief of staff, London District, and later commander, 4 Guards Brigade.

In 1964 Fitzalan Howard became the first commander of the Allied Mobile Force in Europe, then chief of staff, Southern Command, and, finally, GOC, London District, and major-general commanding the Household Division. He was colonel of the Lancashire Regiment from 1966 to 1970, then of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment until 1978.

In retirement he became Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps in 1982 and, after the assassination of Lord Mountbatten in 1979, Gold Stick in Waiting and Colonel of the Life Guards for the next 20 years. He was also chairman of the Territorial Army and Volunteer Reserve Council. In the mid-1980s he was involved in the Royal Commonwealth Ex-Services League as the driving force behind Prince Philip's appeal which raised almost £3 million for those who had fallen on hard times.

He was appointed MVO in 1953, CBE in 1962, CB in 1968, KCVO in 1971 and GCVO in 1981.

On his brother's succession to the dukedom of Norfolk in 1975 he was granted the title and precedence of a duke's son. In 1999 he became an extra equerry to the Queen.

Michael Fitzalan Howard was a devout Catholic with an unassuming manner and a deep love of the countryside.

He married, in 1946, Jean Hamilton-Dalrymple, daughter of Sir Hew Hamilton-Dalrymple, Bt; but she died a year later, shortly after the birth of their daughter. In 1950 he married Margaret Meade-Newman, daughter of Captain WP Meade-Newman; they had four sons (three of whom were Tom, Dick and Harry) and a daughter. After Margaret's death in 1995 he married Victoria Baring, widow of Sir Mark Baring.
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spidge · Nov 5, 2007

Any reason why Tom, Dick & Harry?

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Lord Michael Fitzalan Howard RIP

Kyt Άρης

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