Prince George, Duke of Kent

Prince George, Duke of Kent (George Edward Alexander Edmund; 20 December 1902 – 25 August 1942), was a member of the British royal family, the fourth son of King George V and Queen Mary.

He was a younger brother of kings Edward VIII and George VI.

Prince George was born on 20 December 1902 at York Cottage on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, England.

His father was the Prince of Wales (later King George V), the only surviving son of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.

His mother was the Princess of Wales, later Queen Mary, the only daughter and eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of Teck.

At the time of his birth, he was fifth in the line of succession to the throne, behind his father and three older brothers: Edward, Albert and Henry.

George was baptised in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle on 26 January 1903 by Francis Paget, Bishop of Oxford.

His godparents were King Edward VII (his paternal grandfather), Prince Valdemar of Denmark (his paternal granduncle, represented by Prince Carl of Denmark, his paternal uncle), Prince Louis of Battenberg (husband of his father's cousin), Queen Alexandra (his paternal grandmother), Empress Dowager Maria Feodorovna (his paternal grandaunt, represented by Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom, his paternal aunt), and Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein (his paternal grandaunt)

Prince George received his early education from a tutor and then followed his elder brother, Prince Henry, to St Peter's Court, a preparatory school at Broadstairs, Kent.

At the age of 13, like his brothers, the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII and Prince Albert, later King George VI, before him, he went to naval college, first at Osborne and later, at Dartmouth.

Their outward voyage was on the ocean liner SS Oropesa (1919).

In Buenos Aires they opened a British Empire Exhibition.

Prince George served in the Royal Navy in the 1920s and then briefly as a civil servant.

He was promoted to sub-lieutenant on 15 February 1924, and was promoted to lieutenant on 15 February 1926.

They continued from Río de la Plata to Rio de Janeiro on the liner RMS Alcantara (1926) and returned from Brazil to Europe on the liner RMS Arlanza (1912), landing at Lisbon.

The princes returned via Paris and an Imperial Airways flight from Paris–Le Bourget Airport that landed specially in Windsor Great Park.

He was patron of the Society for Nautical Research between 1926 and 1942.

He served on the latter as a lieutenant on the admiral's staff before transferring in 1928 to HMS Durban on the America and West Indies Station, based at the Royal Naval Dockyard at Bermuda.

His father had previously served at Bermuda on HMS Canada and HMS Thrush, as a watch-keeping lieutenant.

After leaving the navy, he briefly held posts at the Foreign Office and later the Home Office, becoming the first member of the royal family to work as a civil servant.

He remained on active service in the Royal Navy until March 1929, serving on HMS Iron Duke (1912) and later on the flagship of the Atlantic Fleet (renamed the Home Fleet in 1932), HMS Nelson (28).

In the late 1930s he served as an RAF officer, initially as a staff officer at RAF Training Command and then, from July 1941, as a staff officer in the Welfare Section of the RAF Inspector General's Staff.

From January to April 1931, Prince George and his elder brother the Prince of Wales travelled 18,000 miles on a tour of South America.

He became Duke of Kent in 1934.

He continued to receive promotions after leaving active service: to commander on 15 February 1934 and to captain on 1 January 1937.

On 9 October 1934, in anticipation of his forthcoming marriage to his second cousin, Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, he was created Duke of Kent, Earl of St Andrews, and Baron Downpatrick.

The couple married on 29 November 1934 at Westminster Abbey.

The wedding was followed by a Greek ceremony in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace, which was converted into an Orthodox chapel for the ceremony.

They had three children:

There were rumours that he had affairs with musical star Jessie Matthews, writer Cecil Roberts, and Noël Coward, a relationship which Coward's long-term partner, Graham Payn, denied.

While married, he had an affair with Margaret Whigham, later known as Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll.

On 23 June 1936, George was appointed a personal aide-de-camp to his eldest brother, the new king, Edward VIII.

Following the abdication of Edward VIII, he was appointed a personal naval aide-de-camp to his elder brother, now George VI.

On 12 March 1937, he was commissioned as a colonel in the British Army and in the equivalent rank of group captain in the Royal Air Force (RAF).

He was also appointed as the Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Fusiliers from the same date.

In October 1938 George was appointed Governor-General of Australia in succession to Lord Gowrie with effect from November 1939.

On 11 September 1939 it was announced that, owing to the outbreak of the Second World War, the appointment was postponed.

On 8 June 1939, George was promoted to the ranks of rear admiral in the Royal Navy, major-general in the British Army and air vice-marshal in the Royal Air Force.

At the start of the Second World War, George returned to active naval service with the rank of rear admiral, briefly serving in the Intelligence Division of the Admiralty.

He was killed in the Dunbeath air crash on 25 August 1942.