Charles Gordon-Lennox, Lord Settrington

Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, Lord Settrington (26 January 1899 – 24 August 1919) was a British aristocrat and heir to the dukedoms of Richmond, Lennox and Gordon. A lieutenant in the British Army during World War I and the Russian Civil War, he was killed during the North Russia intervention.

Early life

Charles Gordon-Lennox was born on 29 January 1899 at 67 Cadogan Square, London, to Lord Settrington and his wife, Hilda Madeline Brassey. Since his elder brother died in infancy in 1895, Charles was heir to the dukedoms of Richmond, Lennox and Gordon, as well as the French dukedom of Aubigny. He was a descendant of King Charles II and his mistress Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth. From the death of his great-grandfather, the 6th Duke of Richmond, in 1903 he held the courtesy title Lord Settrington. Charles was raised at Molecomb House, a house on the family's Goodwood Estate in West Sussex.

In 1903, at the age of four, he attended the ninth birthday party of Prince Edward of Wales, the future King Edward VIII and later Duke of Windsor. In 1911, he was his grandfather's page at the coronation of King George V. His grandfather, the 7th Duke of Richmond, carried the Sceptre with Dove.

He was educated at Eton College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He was later raised to the rank of lieutenant on 22 July 1917.

Prior to being deployed, his girlfriends included actresses Joyce Barbour and Faith Celli, to the disapproval of his mother. He had been captured by the Germans and remained a prisoner of war at Karlsruhe until the Armistice of 11 November 1918. He returned to England in December 1918.

Russian Civil War After the October Revolution, the Allies intervened in the Russian Civil War on the side of the White movement.

Death and legacy

Settrington died of his injuries in Bereznik, Severnaya Oblast, on 24 August 1919 at the age of 20.

Settrington was considered the first love of Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the future Queen Mother, a close friend of his sister, Lady Doris. Upon his death, Bowes-Lyon called him "my only true friend", writing: "I was not shy about him and he was so delightful. It's terrible, and his family just adored him. He was completely unique and always said what he thought [...] Charlie was the only one I could talk to in a completely natural and simple way – he was dear to me, and I miss him very much".

A memorial plaque to Settrington and his father was erected in the Church of St Mary and St Blaise, Boxgrove, near Goodwood.