Michael Willoughby, 12th Baron Middleton

Digby Michael Godfrey John Willoughby, 12th Baron Middleton (1 May 1921 – 27 May 2011), was a Conservative British peer who actively opposed the House of Lords Act 1999 which expelled most hereditary peers from the House of Lords. In addition to his service in the House of Lords, where he served as Chairman of the Food and Agriculture Subcommittee from 1989 to 1992, he was a veteran of World War II.

Early life Digby Michael Godfrey John Willoughby was born 1 May 1921 to Michael Willoughby, 11th Baron Middleton, and his wife Angela Florence Alfreda Hall, the eldest of four children. Through his great-grandmother, Julia Louisa Bosville (1824–1901), he is a direct descendant of Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, via his illegitimate daughter Maria Louisa. The 5th Battalion would be placed in the 32nd Guards Brigade which was formed in October 1941 as a defense against a possible German invasion. The brigade would remain in England until the invasion of Normandy in 1944.

On 20 June 1944, Willoughby, now a Captain, was serving as the second in command of the 2nd Company 5th Battalion assigned to the invasion force.

Ancestry