Sir Simon Bland, Guards officer who saw action in Italy and Malaya before becoming Private Secretary to the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester – obituary

Lt-Col Sir Simon Bland, who has died aged 98, was for many years Private Secretary to the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, a post to which he was appointed after distinguished service in the Army.

Simon Claud Michael Bland was born on December 4 1923, the younger son of Sir Nevile Bland, KCMG, KCVO, Ambassador to the Hague and the Malagasy Republic, and his wife Portia Ottley, daughter of a canon residentiary of Rochester. His elder brother, David, was killed in action serving with the Scots Guards in North Africa, aged 22, and a sister died at the age of two.

The Blands came from Halifax in Yorkshire in 1679, becoming a family of merchants in London, through links with the Gurney family. Simon’s grandfather, Francis Bland, was seated at Inglethorpe Manor, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire and his grandmother a Barclay, of Barclay’s Bank.

From Eton Simon joined the Scots Guards in 1942. He served in Italy with the 1st Battalion from October 1944 until the end of the Second World War, during which time his battalion was involved in fierce fighting to pierce the Gothic Line and he was mentioned in despatches.

He was ADC to General Sir William Morgan at the British Joint Services Mission in Washington from 1948 to 1949, during the critical phase of the Korean War and Berlin Airlift, and served as a Company Commander in the Malayan Emergency, where a guerrilla jumped out at him and shot him at point blank range.

The man was shot and only when he returned to the body did Simon discover that the bullet intended for him had lodged in the barrel.

He was Company Commander in Germany from 1953 to 1957, and from 1959 to 1960 was Assistant Military Adviser to Sir Alexander Symon, at the High Commission in Karachi, Pakistan in the aftermath of partition.

From being staff officer to the Queen’s uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, Colonel of the Scots Guards, he was appointed Assistant Private Secretary in December 1960, working with Sir Michael Hawkins at St James’s Palace until his retirement in 1974. Bland took over as Comptroller and Private Secretary in 1963.

Besides running the household, he attended regimental parades and dinners with the Duke, was in attendance when he presided at committee meetings, frequently laid the wreath on his behalf at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sundays, and represented him at many memorial services.

He was in attendance during the State Visit to Scotland of King Olav of Norway, and accompanied the Duke to Germany in 1961, Northern Ireland in 1962, and Jordan and Cyprus in 1963.

The Duke’s health declined during these years, and he gradually wound down his engagements after 1966. Bland visited the Duchess of Gloucester in hospital after the Duke overturned their car, driving back to Barnwell after the State Funeral of Sir Winston Churchill in 1965, and reassured the media that she was making a good recovery.

Bland was in attendance on the Duke at his last formal public engagement in May 1968, when the Brigade of Guards received the Freedom of the Royal Borough of New Windsor. After that the Duke suffered a serious stroke which confined him to his home in Northamptonshire, Barnwell Manor.

Subsequently Bland frequently accompanied the Duchess of Gloucester on her public engagements, as well as Princes William and Richard of Gloucester as they began to undertake royal duties on their own. He accompanied Prince William to Tonga in 1970 and the Congo in 1971.

On 19 August 1972 his father, Sir Nevile Bland, died, and on August 28 Prince William was killed in a plane accident, taking part in the Goodyear Air Race near Wolverhampton. It fell to Bland to attend the inquest and identify the prince’s body by the signet ring – bearing a W, designed by the Prince, with the coronet of grandson of the Sovereign – which Bland had ordered for him on his 21st birthday.

In the years that followed, Bland assisted the Duchess of Gloucester and guided Prince and Princess Richard as they assumed a more prominent role. He was seconded to accompany Princess Alexandra when she paid visits to Singapore and Vienna, both in 1969, New York in 1970, Buenos Aires in the same year, and California in 1971.

When the old Duke died at Barnwell in 1974, it became clear that Prince Richard would have to give up being an architect and accept his royal obligations. With Bland’s support the new Duke soon settled into his new role.

Bland continued to serve as Private Secretary, Comptroller and Equerry to the young Gloucesters and to Princess Alice until he retired in 1989. He was hugely supportive to Robert Shaw and his successor, Neville Labovitch, as they developed the Jubilee Walkway in London, of which the new Duke was Patron.

Throughout his working life, Bland was positive, good-hearted and straightforward, a calming presence in a crisis, greatly enjoying his life, and fortified by a strong Christian faith.

He was personally invested by the Queen as a Member (Fourth Class) of the Royal Victorian Order in 1967, and again when promoted CVO in 1973 and KCVO in 1982. He had numerous charitable interests, including Raleigh International, the College of St Barnabas, the Pestalozzi Children’s Village Trust, and Elizabeth Finn Trust. He was President of the Kent branch of the Royal British Legion. He was appointed a Knight of St John in 1988.

In 1954 he married Olivia Blackett, with whom he had three daughters and a son. After buying Gabriels Manor, Edenbridge, they threw themselves into Kent life, dividing their time between there and their Clock Tower apartment at Kensington Palace. A devoted family man, Bland loved riding and shooting and his dogs.

After his wife’s death in 2013 he moved to a smaller house in Edenbridge, where his mobility scooter was a familiar feature in the town.

He is survived by his children. His eldest daughter Catie was personal secretary to the Prince of Wales for some years.

Lt-Col Sir Simon Bland, born December 4 1923, died August 11 2022