BLAND, Lt-Col Sir Simon Claud Michael KCVO 1923-2022

[Richard R]

From the Telegraph of 17 Aug 2022: BLAND Lt Col Sir Simon KCVO, former Private Secretary to TRHs The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. Hugely loved husband to his late wife, Olivia, and dear father of Catie, Rachel, David and Henrietta, loving grandparent to 7 grandchildren and 2 great granddaughters. Died peacefully at home aged 98 years, surrounded by his family, on 11th August 2022. The Funeral Service will take place on 8th September at 12.30 p.m. at St Peter & St Paul's Church, Edenbridge, followed by the burial. Flowers welcome, donations, if desired, to the Edenbridge PCC c/o Alex Jones Funeral Directors, Edenbridge...

He was s of Sir (George) Nevile Maltby BLAND KCMG KCVO 1886-1972 scion of that gentry family of Copdock and Portia 1893-1968 d of Canon Edward Bickersteth OTTLEY 1853-1910 sometime head of that gentry family f/o Alces Place and Maude Isabel Mary 1860-1942 d of Rt Rev Walter Kerr HAMILTON Bishop of Salisbury 1808-69 scion of the BELHAVEN & STENTON barons. He m 1954 (Beatrice) Olivia 1932-2013 d of Maj Christopher William Stewart BLACKETT DL 1908-85 scion of that gentry family of Wylam, and Kathleen Charlotte WILLIAMS-WYNN 1910-91 (2xgt gd of Sir Watkin WILLIAMS-WYNN 4th Bt 1749-89 and scion of many other families of whom we treat), and had a son and three daus as above.

He was Extra Equerry to the Duke and Duchess of GLOUCESTER, since 1989 (Comptroller, Private Secretary and Equerry, 1972–89); Extra Equerry to Princess ALICE Duchess of GLOUCESTER, 1989–2004 (Private Secretary and Comptroller, 1974–89)

[Richard R]

Obit in the Times of 26 Aug 2022:

E X T R A C T

Lieutenant Colonel Sir Simon Bland obituary
Scots Guards officer who saw action in the Italian campaign and Malaya and later became equerry to the Duke of Gloucester
...Simon Claude Michael Bland was born in London in 1923, the youngest son of Sir George Bland, a diplomat who in 1940, as envoy to the Hague, narrowly escaped internment by the Nazis, and his wife Portia (née Ottley). Bland, like his father, was educated at Eton.
His elder brother, David, was serving with the 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards, in north Africa, and it was not surprising therefore that a week after leaving school in August 1942, Bland enlisted in the same regiment.
His family were living only some five miles from the Guards Depot at Caterham in Surrey, and his father had his chauffeur drive him to the gates. The sergeant of the guard, summing up the situation in Guards fashion, shouted to an orderly: “Take this gentleman’s suitcase.” After they had gone a little way, the orderly asked to which of the regimental officers’ quarters he should take him. Bland replied, somewhat puzzled, that as a recruit he imagined he should go to the Scots Guards lines. “You’re a new recruit, are you?” snarled the orderly, dropping the suitcase with, Bland recalled, “an oath with which I was not acquainted”....
...in 1954, he married Beatrice Olivia Blackett, daughter of Major Christopher Blackett, formerly of the Coldstream Guards, and Kathleen (née Williams-Wynn). “Olivia Bland” wrote an intriguing book, The Royal Way of Death, which examined the great funereal occasions of state from Queen Elizabeth I to Earl Mountbatten of Burma. Lady Bland died in 2013, and he is survived by a son and three daughters: David, an entrepreneur; Catherine, formerly a personal assistant in the Prince of Wales’s office; and Rachel and Henrietta, both wives and mothers...
...While still in uniform as a lieutenant colonel, retiring only in 1978, he then became comptroller, private secretary and equerry to Prince Henry’s widow, HRH Princess Alice, and to the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester until 1989, when he retired and became extra equerry (an honorary appointment) to Princess Alice until her death in 2004, and extra equerry to the duke and duchess...
Lieutenant Colonel Sir Simon Bland KCVO, Scots Guards officer and courtier, was born on December 4, 1923. He died on August 11, 2022, aged 98
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/lieutenant-colonel-sir-simon-bland-obituary-frj3cmd3b

[Henry W]

From the Court Circular:

8 September 2022
Kensington Palace

The Duke of Gloucester, also representing The Duchess of Gloucester, was present at the Funeral of Lieutenant Colonel Sir Simon Bland (formerly Private Secretary to Their Royal Highnesses) which was held at St. Peter and St. Paul's Church, Church Street, Edenbridge, Kent, this afternoon. [...]

8 September 2022
Balmoral Castle

The Queen was represented by the Lady Elton (Lady in Waiting) at the Funeral of Lieutenant Colonel Sir Simon Bland (formerly Private Secretary to The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester) which was held at St. Peter and St. Paul's Church, Church Street, Edenbridge, Kent, this afternoon.