Granville Leveson-Gower, 3rd Earl Granville

Granville George Leveson-Gower, 3rd Earl Granville GCMG GCVO PC (4 March 1872 – 21 July 1939) was a British diplomat who was envoy to several countries.

Career

The eldest son of the 2nd Earl Granville, Leveson-Gower was educated at Eton College and joined the Diplomatic Service in 1893 as an attaché in Berlin. He served in Cairo, Vienna, The Hague and Brussels, then was appointed back to Berlin with the rank of Counsellor in 1911. In 1913 he was appointed to Paris, again as counsellor, and moved to Bordeaux when the French government relocated there in September 1914 as the German army approached the capital before the First Battle of the Marne.

On 1 January 1917 he was appointed Diplomatic Agent to the Greek provisional government of Eleftherios Venizelos in Salonika,[1] shortly afterwards formalised as Minister Plenipotentiary.[2]

In June 1917, King Constantine abdicated, the previous British Minister to the Greek Government, Sir Francis Elliot, departed and Granville became official Minister to Greece in Athens.[3] He was Minister to Denmark 1921–26,[4] Minister to the Netherlands 1926–28[5] and Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg 1928–33.[6]

As a Privy Counsellor, Earl Granville took part in the official procedures legalising the accession of King Edward VIII[7] in 1936 and, later that year, his abdication and the accession of King George VI.[8]

Honours

Earl Granville was appointed MVO in 1904,[9] raised to CVO in 1913 on the occasion of King George V's visit to Berlin,[10] and knighted GCVO in the King's Birthday Honours of 1914.[11] He was given the additional, senior knighthood of KCMG in the New Year Honours of 1924[12] and raised to GCMG in 1932.

He was made a Privy Counsellor in 1928.[13] The King of Belgium awarded him the Order of Leopold.[14]

He had also been a Lord-in-Waiting to Queen Victoria in 1895,[15] to King Edward VII from 1905–10 and to King George V from 1910–15.

Family

On 27 September 1900, he had married Nina Ayesha Baring (whose father, Walter Baring, was also a diplomat) but died without issue and his titles passed to his brother William.

References

  1. "British Diplomatic Agent At Salonika – Lord Granville Appointed", The Times (London), 2 January 1917, p. 8
  2. London Gazette, 9 January 1917; accessed 5 April 2014.
  3. New Minister to Greece: Earl Granville Appointed, The Times, London, 23 August 1917, page 5
  4. London Gazette, 6 December 1921; accessed 5 April 2014.
  5. London Gazette, 17 December 1926; accessed 5 April 2014.
  6. London Gazette, 31 August 1928; accessed 5 April 2014.
  7. Supplement to the London Gazette, 21 January 1936
  8. The London Gazette, 15 December 1936
  9. The London Gazette, 12 August 1904
  10. The London Gazette, 30 May 1913
  11. Supplement to the London Gazette, 22 June 1914
  12. Supplement to the London Gazette, 1 January 1924
  13. The London Gazette, 13 June 1928
  14. Mosley, Charles (ed.) Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 2003, vol.2, page 1639
  15. The London Gazette, 5 February 1895

External links


Political offices
Preceded by
Robert Collier, 2nd Baron Monkswell
Lord-in-Waiting
1895
Succeeded by
John Henniker-Major, 5th Baron Henniker
Preceded by
Rudolph Feilding, 9th Earl of Denbigh
Lord-in-Waiting
1905–1915
Succeeded by
Arthur Annesley, 11th Viscount Valentia
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Sir Francis Elliot
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to His Majesty the King of Greece
1917–1921
Succeeded by
Francis Lindley
Preceded by
Sir Charles Marling
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to His Majesty the King of Denmark and Iceland
1921–1926
Succeeded by
Sir Milne Cheetham
Preceded by
Sir Charles Marling
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands
1926–1928
Succeeded by
Sir Odo Russell
Preceded by
Sir George Grahame
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to His Majesty the King of the Belgians, and Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Her Royal Highness the Grand Duchess of Luxemburg
1928–1933
Succeeded by
Sir George Clerk
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Granville Leveson-Gower
Earl Granville
2nd creation
1891–1939
Succeeded by
William Leveson-Gower