Christopher Birdwood , 2nd Baron Birdwood Christopher Bromhead Birdwood , 2nd Baron Birdwood , MVO ( 22 May 1899 – 5 January 1962 ) , was a British hereditary peer , soldier and author . The son of Field Marshal Lord Birdwood and Janetta Hope Gonville Bromhead ( daughter of Sir Benjamin Parnell Bromhead , 4th Baronet , and niece of Gonville Bromhead , VC ) . He was baptised at Twickenham , London , England . Lord Birdwood was educated at Clifton College and Royal Military Academy , Sandhurst , Berkshire . He was commissioned as a second Lieutenant on to the Unattached List , Indian Army on 21 December 1917 . In France he was Aide - de - Camp to the General Officer Commanding the Australian Corps and 5th Army , his father , from 10 March 1918 to 28 February 1919 . For his service he was Mentioned in Dispatches . He was decorated with the Order of Aviz of Portugal ( London Gazette 21 August 1919 ) . He arrivied in India on 10 April 1919 and was appointed to the Indian Army on 15 April 1919 and posted to the King Edward VII ' s Own Lancers ( Probyn ' s Horse ) of the Indian Army . As per the London Gazette of 12 September 1919 he was promoted Lieutenant , antedated to 22 December 1918 . In February 1920 he was promoted Acting Captain whilst attached to the 2 / 76th Punjabis , additionally being made Adjutant in July 1920 . He fought in the Waziristan Campaign between 1919 and 1920 . He returned to the 11th KEO Lancers by March 1921 , by which time they had amalgamated with the 12th Cavalry to form 5th King Edward ' s Own Probyn ' s Horse . He was promoted to Captain on 21 December 1921 . Between 1923 and 1925 he served on the North West Frontier with various units of the Frontier Corps . He was Aide - de - Camp to the Commander - in - Chief at India , his father , between 13 May 1929 and 29 November 1930 . He was appointed British Officer in Charge of the King ' s Indian Orderly Officers in 1932 . He was promoted to Major on 21 December 1935 . He fought in the Waziristan Campaign again between 1936 and 1937 . He was appointed a Squadron Commander in Probyn ' s Horse 15 January 1938 , but was appointed Commandant of the Governors Body Guard , Bombay on 21 March 1938 . He was again appointed British Officer in Charge of the King ' s Indian Orderly Officers in 1939 . For this service he was invested as a Member , Royal Victorian Order ( MVO ) in 1939 ( London Gazette 8 June 1939 ) . He fought in the Second World War , returning to Probyn ' s Horse in August 1940 and rose to become temporary second in command by April 1942 , later he served on the Staff . He was promoted to Lt - Col on 21 December 1943 and retired due to ill - health on 4 June 1945 . He married , firstly , Elizabeth Vere Drummond Ogilvie , daughter of Lt . - Col . Sir George Drummond Ogilvie and Lorna Rome , on 7 March 1931 at Delhi , India . He and Elizabeth Vere Drummond Ogilvie were divorced in 1953 . In the meantime , he had succeeded to his father ' s titles on 17 May 1951 . He married , secondly , Joan Pollack Graham , by then known as Jane , the daughter of Christopher Norman Graham , on 22 February 1954 . After his death , Jane Birdwood , Baroness Birdwood became an activist on the far - right of British politics .