Liam Gregory

Lieutenant General Liam Patrick Alexander Gregory, 19th Duke of Kent, VC KG GCVO KCB CBE PC DL TD CD GCLJ GCFO CStJ gcYC FRS FREng DEng - born 4 March 1981 - is a British landowner, businessman, philanthropist, Territorial Army general, and peer. He is also Lord President of the Privy Council and current Leader of the House of Lords. He is one of 92 hereditary peers - of which only three are dukes - sitting in the upper house. As the Duke of Kent - a title his family has held unbroken since 1491 - he holds the second oldest non-royal ducal title in the United Kingdom and is the second most senior lay peer in the realm. He is secretly the founder and leader of the Inquest and is additionally the owner and chief executive of The Gregory Group Limited, a major global holding firm that collectively employs over twelve million people worldwide. He also holds the distinction of being the single wealthiest individual in the world, with a cash wealth of £429 billion, an investment and brokerage portfolio valued at an additional £707 billion, and controlling business and industrial assets valued collectively in excess of £8.5 trillion. He is the world's first - and currently only - trillionaire. A veteran of World War 3, he saw combat in Alaska, in Taiwan, in Korea, and in China on the Beijing front.
Aside from being Duke of Kent, he is also Earl of Linton, Earl of Lansdowne, Baron Wynhurst, Baron Threadmore, Baron Lundy, Baron Marlowe, and Baron Ravensworth.
"What I saw in Alaska, in Taiwan, in Korea, and in China...before that I was different. It took something from me. That's what war does. Sometimes, I wondered if my wife and my boys would even recognise me when I came home. I was afraid there wouldn't be enough of me left for them to hang on to. That maybe the best of me...was gone. You come home, and you're half a person. The other half of you is still back there...and always will be." - Lord Gregory, 2010, speaking on his wartime experiences.
==Biography==
====Early Life====
Born in London at Saint Mary's Hospital on 4 March 1981, he grew up primarily at the family estate of Ledford Park near Linton in Maidstone. From birth until 2020, he was known as The Earl of Linton, a title his family has held since its creation in 1140 but used as a courtesy title for the family heir since the creation of the dukedom. During the social season, he would accompany his parents to the family townhouse in London, on Belgrave Square in Belgravia. Privately tutored at home until age 12, he graduated from Eton College in 1999, having spent his last two years at Eton in accelerated university studies via a joint programme with Trinity College at the University of Cambridge. Having entered the British Army in mid-1999, he was granted his commission shortly after completing the Regular Commissioning Course at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, in late 2001. When World War 3 broke out in August 2002 with the Chinese invasion of Alaska, he was forced to put his further education on hold. He would return to Trinity after leaving active army service, acquiring his masters degree in 2009, and his doctorate in 2011.
====Military Service====
Lord Gregory spent the first year of the war in Alaska, as part of the British Expeditionary Force sent by Prime Minister Tony Blair to assist the United States in the defense of the territory. He was on the front lines, leading a Commando unit, when the Chinese disengaged and withdrew in defeat in March 2004. Injured twice in the Alaskan Campaign, he spent three months in Vancouver before being deployed, again, as part of the campaign to retake Taiwan in 2004-2005. He would move from there to take part in the mid-2005 Korea Landings. After nine weeks, the Allied forces broke through stiff North Korean resistance and began their multi-pronged push to China, crushing the North Korean military and capturing the majority of the nation's top leaders, including Kim Jong-Il. He was later part of the final Allied strike on Beijing, when four million soldiers from nineteen nations - of which 2 million were American and 500k were British - surrounded the city and several top CCP officials, including President Hu Jintao, were taken prisoner. His Commando battalion successfully intercepted and destroyed a tactical nuclear device a Chinese force was attempting to smuggle onto the battlefield in a desperate attempt to halt the Allied advance by inflicting immense casualties on the amassed forces and was shot six times and broke his leg in the ensuing fighting. He was at a field hospital near the capital recovering from his wounds when a cease fire was declared and was still there three days later when the Chinese surrender was announced. Because of their actions in what became known as the Battle of Guan, the No. 12 Commando earned the nickname the "Atomic Lions".
The duke was injured seven times over the course of the war. In Alaska, he was twice injured by shrapnel from a flak grenade, then had a bullet go clean through his right lung. This wound was patched up long enough that he was able to see the end of combat operations in Alaska, before being sent to Vancouver for surgical correction of the injury. In Taiwan, he suffered a concussion and shrapnel injuries when a land mine went off not far from his position that killed two members of his company. In China, he was shot six times and broke his left leg, having been knocked down by the impact of the last bullet, while intercepting the atomic device being smuggled onto the battlefield by Chinese troops. As a result of his injuries, the duke suffers partial neuropathy in his left arm and hand, arthritis in his left leg, and has mild difficulty breathing in conditions where the air pressure is extremely heavy. Post-war, he was treated for C-PTSD. He takes medications for his pain and psychological distress.
The duke's efforts during the Battle of Beijing earned him his knighthood, and his many injuries and numerous commendations for battlefield bravery and sacrifice earned him the Victoria Cross. Shortly after mustering out of the regular army, the duke joined the Territorial Army and continues to serve with and support its work. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general in 2025. He plans to retire in 2029, when he reaches his 30-year service anniversary.
====Personal Life====
He stands 6'6" tall and weighs 229 pounds. His hair is very dark brown and his eyes are deep green. He is ambidextrous.
He has been married since 9 May 1999 to the Duchess Lauren Elizabeth, nee Stacy, who was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, and whom he initially met in 1997, during a three-month student exchange their junior year. They corresponded throughout 1998 and into 1999, and he visited her family home each fall for Thanksgiving. Gregory would visit her during spring break in March 1999 to ask her if she would marry him at the end of the school year. She consented and traveled to the UK on a marriage visa for a visit to the Gregory estate in April 1999. Her parents were flown at the Gregory family's expense to the UK a week later, where they met the earl and his parents. The couple were wed at Canterbury Cathedral. Prince William stood as best man. She obtained her full British citizenship in 2004, and lives in the UK full time. She is a Cambridge-educated medical doctor.
The duke and duchess have six children - son Marcus, born 8 February 2000; son Theodore, born 22 March 2001; son Taylor, born 9 July 2002; son Jordan, born 17 August 2008; son Lucas, born 30 November 2009; and daughter Vivienne, both 6 January 2011. The duke is a lifelong personal friend of HRH Prince William, and he and the duchess are the godparents of Prince George of Cambridge. He is additionally, at present, patron or president of over ninety society and charity organizations, and is Chancellor of Kings College, London. He is also a Fellow of the Cambridge Alumni Society, and is a Freemason, with membership in the Royal Arch, Scottish Rite, and York Rite. He holds membership in four London gentleman's clubs - the Cavalry and Guards Club, the Carlton Club, the Oxford and Cambridge Club, and the Athenaeum Club. He is also a member of MENSA International and is current President of the British chapter.
Aside from his native English, the duke can fluently read, write, and speak French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Turkish, Hebrew, Russian, Ukrainian, Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Farsi. He is also fluent in Latin.
Lord Gregory owns five residences, not counting Ledford Park. There is the Belgravia townhouse, the townhouse in Gros Caillou on the 7th arrondissement in Paris, a villa on Lake Como in Bellagio, the townhouse in the Beacon Hill neighbourhood of Boston, Massachusetts, and the penthouse flat in Aoyama-itchome, Tokyo.
The Duke of Kent was born on 4 March 1981, and died on 19 October 2087 at the age of 106. The Duchess of Kent was born on 22 April 1981 and died on 14 August 2077 at the age of 96. They were married on 9 May 1999, and the union lasted until the death of the duchess, 78 years later. They were both laid to rest in the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral. A statue of the duke was erected in Parliament Square in Westminster in commemoration of his one hundredth birthday by order of his godson, King George VII. At his funeral, on the command of the King, the Pipe Major of The Highlanders Royal Regiment of Scotland played The Flowers of the Forest as his coffin was lowered into the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral, in honour of his status as a combat veteran of World War 3.
The Prince of Wales would ascend the throne as King William V in 2031 at the age of 49 and would go on to reign for 44 years. He passed away in the early morning hours of 17 September 2075, aged 93. He was succeeded by his son, who ascended the throne as King George VII at the age of 62. In total, the duke was Lord President to four monarchs - Elizabeth II (2020-2022), Charles III (2022-2031), William V (2031-2075) and George VII (2071-2087).
There are five monuments to the Duke in the United Kingdom - a statue in Parliament Square Westminster, a statue outside of town hall in Maidstone, a statue on the quad of Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, a statue outside the Usher Hall in Edinburgh, and a statue outside of the Civic Centre in Southampton. Outside of the UK there are four - a statue of him on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, another on Capitol Hill in Canberra, a statue of him on Lambton Quay near Parliament House in Wellington, and another on the Boston Common opposite the Massachusetts State House in Boston, Massachusetts.
==Titles & Styles==
* 4 March 1981 to 10 May 2006 - The Lord Gregory
* 10 May 2006 to 9 October 2020- The Right Honourable The Earl of Linton
* 9 October 2020 to present - His Grace The Duke of Kent