monarch predecessor successor death_date imagesize nationality birth_date order term_start article_title term_end name
edward 1936-1943 -rrb- viii -lrb- 1936-1936 -rrb- ; george vi -lrb- col. the rt. hon. sir clive wigram capt. the rt. hon. sir alan lascelles 29 may 1960 150px british 17 may 1894 private secretary to the sovereign 1936 alexander hardinge , 2nd baron hardinge of penshurst
 1943 the lord hardinge of penshurst
alexander hardinge , 2nd baron hardinge of penshurst

major alexander henry louis hardinge , 2nd baron hardinge of penshurst -lrb- 17 may 1894 - 29 may 1960 -rrb- was private secretary to the sovereign during the abdication crisis of edward viii and during most of the second world war .
hardinge was born in 1894 , the son of the hon. charles hardinge -lrb- who was created baron hardinge of penshurst in 1910 and served as viceroy of india from 1910 to 1916 -rrb- .
he was commissioned into the grenadier guards and fought in the first world war , alongside his brother , rising to the rank of lieutenant and winning the military cross .
in 1920 , he became assistant private secretary to king george v and was promoted captain .
on 8 february 1921 , he married helen gascoyne-cecil -lrb- a daughter of lord edward gascoyne-cecil and his wife , violet -rrb- and they had three children .
in 1929 he was promoted major .
hardinge served as assistant private secretary up until the king 's death in 1936 and was promoted to private secretary upon the accession of king edward viii that same year ; he continued in this role until his early retirement in 1943 .
in 1936 he also retired from the army .
hardinge 's elder brother , edward , had died from wounds received in action in 1914 and so hardinge succeeded as baron hardinge of penshurst , on the demise of his father a year later , in 1944 .
hardinge died in 1960 and his title was inherited by his son , george .
his wife helen wrote his biography `` loyal to three kings '' , william kimber , london 1967 .
