Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (Henry William Frederick Albert; 31 March 1900 – 10 June 1974), was a member of the British royal family.
He was the third son of King George V and Queen Mary.
Prince Henry was born on 31 March 1900, at York Cottage, on the Sandringham Estate during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria.
His father was the Duke of York (later King George V), the only surviving son of the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra).
His mother was the Duchess of York (later Queen Mary), the only daughter 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 grandfather, father and two elder brothers.
He was baptised at the private chapel of Windsor Castle on 17 May 1900, by Randall Thomas Davidson, Bishop of Winchester.
He was informally known to his family as Harry.
As a young boy, Prince Henry suffered from ill health very much like his older brother Albert.
He also had knock knees, and had to wear painful leg splints.
He was an extremely nervous child, and was often victim to spontaneous fits of crying or giggling, and also like his brother, Henry had a combination of speech disorders.
They both had rhotacism, which prevented them from pronouncing the sound r, but while Albert's pronunciation was slightly reminiscent of the "French r", Henry was completely unable to pronounce it, causing the intended r to sound like [w].
On top of this, Henry also had a nasal lisp and an unusually high-pitched tone, resulting in a very distinctive voice.
1909
By 1909, Henry's poor health had become a serious concern for his parents.
He was very small for his age and was prone to get very aggressive colds.
"You must remember that he is rather fragile and must be treated differently to his two elder brothers who are more robust", wrote Prince George to Henry's tutor, Henry Peter Hansell.
1910
On 6 May 1910, Prince George ascended the throne as George V, and Henry became the third in line to the throne.
The King was persuaded by Hansell that it would be good for Henry's character to attend school, where he could interact with boys his age.
The King, having previously rejected this proposition for his two elder sons, agreed on the basis that it would help him "behave like a boy and not like a little child".
Prince Henry thus became the first son of a British monarch to attend school.
After three days at St Peter's Court in Broadstairs as a day boy, Hansell, noticing he liked it, asked the King to send him as a boarder, to which he agreed.
Henry spent three years at St Peter's Court.
Academically, he was not very bright, although he did show a particular aptitude in mathematics.
Henry's sole interest became sports, particularly cricket and football.
"All you write about is your everlasting football of which I am heartily sick", wrote his mother, answering a fully detailed letter from Henry about a match.
1913
In September 1913, Henry started at Eton College.
1935
In 1935, also under parental pressure, he married Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott, with whom he had two sons, princes William and Richard.
1939
From 1939 to 1940, Henry served in France as a liaison officer to Lord Gort.
1945
He served as Governor-General of Australia from 1945 to 1947, the only prince to hold the post.
He performed military and diplomatic duties during the rest of the war, then in 1945 was appointed as Australia's governor-general at the request of Prime Minister John Curtin.
The post had originally been offered to his younger brother the Duke of Kent, who died in an air crash.
1953
Henry attended the coronation of his niece Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 and carried out several overseas tours, often accompanied by his wife.
1965
From 1965, he became incapacitated by a number of strokes.
Upon his death, he was succeeded as the Duke of Gloucester by his only living son, Richard.
Prince Henry was the last surviving child of King George V and Queen Mary.
His widow, who died at the age of 102, became the longest-lived ever member of the British royal family.
2010
Henry was the first son of a British monarch to be educated at school, where he excelled at sports, and went on to attend Eton College, after which he was commissioned in the 10th Royal Hussars, a regiment he hoped to command.
However, his military career was frequently interrupted by royal duties, and he was nicknamed "the unknown soldier" due to his low profile.
While big-game shooting in Kenya, he met the future pilot Beryl Markham, with whom he became romantically involved.
The court put pressure on him to end the relationship, but he had to pay regular hush-money to avert a public scandal.
