The Spectator’s Notes | 17 June 2006

Major Bruce Shand, father of the Duchess of Cornwall, who died at the weekend, was a man of great charm. He had a very attractive combination of enough confidence to put you at your ease and enough diffidence not to seem arrogant. In old age he had a lovely, interesting, funny face — creased, like a more military, bucolic version of W.H. Auden. Although he did not seem in the least bitter, it hurt him a great deal that the press persecuted his daughter — bringing grief also to his wife — for so long. But he stuck to the old principle, which he referred to as ‘FHB’ (‘Family Hold Back’), and never said anything in public. If you have won medals and nearly been killed fighting for your country (Shand won the MC in France in 1940 and was wounded and captured in North Africa in 1942), it must give you a curious perspective on how people behave in times of peace.