Beschreibung:

A fine Collection of Medals to Members of the Royal Household The highly important G.C.B., G.C.V.O., C.M.G., Great War M.C. group of fourteen awarded to the Rt. Hon. Sir Alan “Tommy” Lascelles, late Bedfordshire Yeomanry, whose long and distinguished career as a Private Secretary in the Royal Household encompassed the trials and tribulations of the Abdication in 1936 through to the momentous days of the 1939-45 War, when he was witness to many defining Churchillian episodes and joined H.M. the King on his first visit to Normandy: having then retired after the Queen’s Coronation in 1953, he remained a loyal servant, listening intently to the proceedings of the marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer shortly before his death in August 1981, aged 94 years - his private diaries, published to much acclaim under the title King’s Counsellor in 2006, serve as a fascinating behind the scenes’ record of many other notable chapters in the recent history of the Royal Household, including such events as portrayed in the award-winning film The King’s Speech The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, G.C.B. (Civil) Knight Grand Cross set of insignia, comprising sash badge, silver-gilt, hallmarks for London ‘1938’, and breast star, silver, with gold and enamel centre, the reverse privately inscribed, ‘The Rt. Hon. Sir Alan Lascelles, P.C., appointed G.C.B. 1953’, with dress sash; The Royal Victorian Order, G.C.V.O., Knight Grand Cross set of insignia, comprising sash badge, silver-gilt and enamel, and breast star, silver, with silver-gilt and enamel centre, both officially numbered ‘339’ and the reverse of the Star further inscribed, ‘The Rt. Hon. Sir Alan Lascelles, P.C., appointed G.C.V.O. 1947’, with dress sash; The Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, C.M.G. Companion’s neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel; Military Cross, George V, unnamed as issued; 1914-15 Star (Lieut. A. Lascelles, Bedf. Yeo.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (Capt. A. F. Lasecelles); Jubilee 1935; Coronation 1937; Coronation 1953; France (Third Republic), Legion of Honour, Grand Officer’s set of insignia, comprising breast badge, silver-gilt and enamel, and breast star, silver, mounted court-style as worn where applicable, lacquered, generally very fine and better (14) £6000-8000 G.C.B. London Gazette 1 June 1953. G.C.V.O. London Gazette 12 June 1947. C.M.G. London Gazette 2 June 1933. M.C. London Gazette 1 January 1919. Footnote For the purposes of such a catalogue entry, it would be impossible to incorporate sufficient detail to lend justice to such a fascinating career, encompassing as it does so many salient chapters in recent Royal Household history, not least the momentous events of the 1939-45 War. Instead, interested parties are strongly recommended to consult King’s Counsellor - Abdication and War: The Diaries of Sir Alan Lascelles, edited by Duff Hart-Davis (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2006), and indeed other pertinent published sources such as Philip Ziegler’s official biography, King Edward VIII (Collins, London, 1990). There follows, however, a brief account of Sir Alan’s career. Alan Frederick Lascelles, known to his intimates as “Tommy”, was born in April 1887, the son of the Hon. Frederick Lascelles, a brother of the 5th Earl of Harewood, and was educated at Marlborough and Trinity College, Oxford. Commissioned in the 1/1st Bedfordshire Yeomanry after the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, he first went out to France in June 1915, where, among other adventures, he ‘defied a Major-General on the field of battle and got away with it’ and was wounded by shrapnel in his right forearm on 24 November 1917. He was mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 4 January 1917 refers), and awarded the M.C., the latter distinction while on attachment to the 15th Hussars. He was demobilised in November 1920, after latterly serving as A.D.C. to the Governor of Bombay. Returning to the U.K. Lascelles entered royal service as