He was educated at Sherborne School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. After school he joined the British Army and was made a Lieutenant with the &lt;a href="16th/5th%20The%20Queen%27s%20Royal%20Lancers"&gt;16th/5th Lancers&lt;/a&gt;. He was then part of the 155th (Lanarkshire Yeomanry) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery where he obtained the rank of Major. During World War II, he was captured in the Far East during the Malayan campaign and kept as a prisoner of war.