Bruce Middleton Hope Shand (22 January 1917 – 11 June 2006) was an

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," f ...

in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. He is best known as the father of

Queen Camilla Camilla (born Camilla Rosemary Shand, later Parker Bowles, 17 July 1947) is Queen Consort of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms as the wife of King Charles III. She became queen consort on 8 September 2022, upon the a ...

Early life

Shand was born in London into an upper class family whose ancestors had moved to England from Scotland. He was the son of Philip Morton Shand (1888–1960), an architectural writer and critic who was a close friend of

Walter Gropius Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect and founder of the Bauhaus School, who, along with Alvar Aalto, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright, is widely regarded as one ...

and Le Corbusier and whose company, ''Finmar'', imported furniture by Alvar Aalto into Great Britain. His mother was

Edith Marguerite Harrington Edith Marguerite Tippet (''née'' Harrington, previously Shand; 14 June 1893 – 3 January 1981), sometimes known as ''Margot'', was the first wife of the English journalist Philip Morton Shand and through her only child, Bruce, was the paternal g ...

(1893–1981), later Mrs. Herbert Charles Tippet. Bruce Shand's parents divorced when he was three years old. His father went on to remarry three times. Shand did not see his father again until he was 18. One of his two half-sisters was Baroness Howe of Idlicote, wife of former Chancellor of the Exchequer and

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president ...

Lord Howe.Major Bruce Shand, The Guardian: Bruce Shand
/ref> Shand's mother remarried Herbert Charles Tippet, a golf course designer. Contrary to some newspaper reports, young Shand was not abandoned by his mother and stepfather but was taken to live with them in Westbury, Long Island, New York, in 1921. He left out this fact from his autobiography, giving the erroneous impression of having been abandoned. After visiting England in June 1923, Bruce and his mother returned to the US in September 1923 with the stated intent (according to US immigration records) of residing permanently in the United States and taking US citizenship. When he next returned to Britain it was to begin his education, organised and paid for by his grandparents. His mother and stepfather returned to Britain in 1927, then moved to Ireland in the 1930s. His stepfather died at Rye in 1947 and his mother died in Cooden Beach, Sussex, in 1981. Shand was sent to France to learn French. He was educated at Rugby and Sandhurst and was commissioned into the

12th Lancers The 12th (Prince of Wales's) Royal Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army first formed in 1715. It saw service for three centuries, including the First World War and the Second World War. The regiment survived the immediate post-war ...

as a second lieutenant on 28 January 1937. He became a troop leader in "A" Squadron. His interests included fox hunting, polo and reading.Obituary: Bruce Shand, BBC News : Bruce Shand
/ref>

Second World War

Shand was promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

on 28 January 1940. He served in France as part of the British Expeditionary Force. The 12th Lancers were equipped with lightly armed Morris armoured cars in a reconnaissance role. The regiment spent six months at

Foncquevillers Foncquevillers () is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography A farming village situated south of Arras, at the junction of the D3, D6 and the D28 roads. Population World War I Foncqu ...

during the

Phoney War The Phoney War (french: Drôle de guerre; german: Sitzkrieg) was an eight-month period at the start of World War II, during which there was only one limited military land operation on the Western Front, when French troops invaded Germa ...

, then advanced to the River Dyle and retreated in the face of the German blitzkrieg. He aided in covering the withdrawal to Dunkirk, from where he was evacuated back to England, arriving back in

Margate Margate is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay and Westbrook. The town has been a significan ...

on 31 May 1940. For his actions, he was awarded an MC on 5 July 1940. After a period with the regiment in Poole and in

Reigate Reigate ( ) is a town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book in 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'' and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The earliest archaeological evidence for huma ...

, and an interlude training the

North Irish Horse The North Irish Horse was a yeomanry unit of the British Territorial Army raised in the northern counties of Ireland in the aftermath of the Second Boer War. Raised and patronised by the nobility from its inception to the present day, it was o ...

in Northern Ireland, Shand was sent with the regiment to North Africa in September 1941 as part of the 7th Armoured Division, where he was promoted to the temporary rank of captain. He earned his second MC in January 1942, covering the withdrawal of armoured cars of the

6th Rajputana Rifles The 6th Rajputana Rifles were an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. They were formed in 1922, after the Indian government reformed the army. They moved away from single battalion regiments to multi battalion regiments. The regiment se ...

in the face of a strong counterattack by the

Afrika Corps The Afrika Korps or German Africa Corps (, }; DAK) was the German expeditionary force in Africa during the North African Campaign of World War II. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defense of its African colonies, the f ...

. The award was gazetted on 9 July of that year. He met

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

shortly before the

Second Battle of El Alamein The Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October – 11 November 1942) was a battle of the Second World War that took place near the Egyptian railway halt of El Alamein. The First Battle of El Alamein and the Battle of Alam el Halfa had prevented th ...

. On 6 November 1942, on a probe towards

Marsa Matruh Mersa Matruh ( ar, مرسى مطروح, translit=Marsā Maṭrūḥ, ), also transliterated as ''Marsa Matruh'', is a port in Egypt and the capital of Matrouh Governorate. It is located west of Alexandria and east of Sallum on the main highway ...

, his vehicle was surrounded and destroyed. Shand's two crewmen were killed, and he was wounded. He was captured and taken to Germany as a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

.PrinceofWales.gov.uk:Bruce Shand
/ref> After treatment in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, he was held at Oflag IX A in Spangenberg Castle, near

Spangenberg Spangenberg is a small town in northeastern Hesse, Germany. Geography Spangenberg lies in the Schwalm-Eder district some southeast of Kassel, west of the Stölzinger Gebirge, a low mountain range. Spangenberg is the demographic centrepoint o ...

, for the duration of the war.Obituaries: Major Bruce Middleton Shand, The Telegraph: Bruce Shand
/ref> While a prisoner of war, he was promoted to the rank of war-substantive captain and to the substantive rank of captain on 28 January 1945.

Later life and death

After his liberation, Shand returned to England in 1945. Due to his wounds, which made him unfit for active service, he was retired from the army on 25 April 1947, leaving with the honorary rank of major. On 2 January 1946, he married the Hon

Rosalind Maud Cubitt Rosalind Maud Shand (' Cubitt; 11 August 1921 – 14 July 1994) was a British charity worker and aristocrat, daughter of Roland Cubitt, 3rd Baron Ashcombe. She was the wife of army officer Major Bruce Shand and the mother of Queen Camilla. Chil ...

, daughter of the 3rd Baron Ashcombe and Sonia Rosemary Keppel, at

St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge, is a Grade II*listed Anglican church of the Anglo-Catholic tradition located at 32a Wilton Place in Knightsbridge, London. History and architecture The church was founded in 1843, the first in London to champion ...

. They had two daughters, Camilla (b. 1947), Annabel (b. 1949) and a son,

Mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * F ...

(1951–2014). He kept a house, The Laines in Plumpton in Sussex and a second in

South Kensington South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...

, but later moved to

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

. He had various business interests, most notably was a partner in Block, Grey and Block, a firm of wine merchants in

South Audley Street South Audley Street is a major shopping street in Mayfair, London.'South Audley Street: Introduction', in Survey of London: Volume 40, the Grosvenor Estate in Mayfair, Part 2 (The Buildings), ed. F H W Sheppard (London, 1980), pp. 290–291. Br ...

, Mayfair, later joining Ellis, Son and Vidler of

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

and London. Shand was a reviewer of military books for '' Country Life'' magazine. In 1990, he wrote a war memoir entitled ''Previous Engagements'' and was the editor of a fellow army officer Tim Bishop's memoirs titled ''One Young Soldier: The Memoirs of a Cavalryman,'' which was published in 1993. Shand compiled Bishop's diaries to a book after his death in 1986. Shand was a Deputy Lieutenant of Sussex, and Vice-Lieutenant of East Sussex from 1974 until 1992. He remained passionate about fox hunting, and was Master of Southdown Fox Hounds from 1956 to 1975. He was Exon and later Adjutant and Clerk of the Cheque of the Queen's Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard. Shand supported the Conservative Party in the UK. In 1993, Shand reportedly reproached the Prince of Wales at a private event for ruining his daughter's life after the relationship became public. After a period of a strained relationship, both men eventually grew to like each other. His wife Rosalind died on 14 July 1994, aged 72, having long suffered from osteoporosis. He died from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

in 2006, aged 89 at his home in Stourpaine, Dorset, with his family at his bedside. After a funeral service at the Holy Trinity Church in Stourpaine on 16 June, Shand's body was

cremated Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre i ...

Memoirs

*Author. (1990). ''Previous Engagements''. Michael Russell Publishing Ltd *Editor. (1993). ''One Young Soldier: The Memoirs of a Cavalryman''. Michael Russell Publishing Ltd

Arms

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shand, Bruce 1917 births 2006 deaths Deaths from cancer in England British people of Scottish descent

Bruce The English language name Bruce arrived in Scotland with the Normans, from the place name Brix, Manche in Normandy, France, meaning "the willowlands". Initially promulgated via the descendants of king Robert the Bruce (1274−1329), it has been ...

12th Royal Lancers officers British Army personnel of World War II British World War II prisoners of war Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Recipients of the Military Cross World War II prisoners of war held by Germany Deputy Lieutenants of Sussex Officers of the Yeomen of the Guard People educated at Rugby School Masters of foxhounds in England People from North Dorset District Writers from London British memoirists 20th-century British businesspeople 20th-century memoirists People from Plumpton, East Sussex