Frederick Browning

Frederick Browning was educated at Eton and Sandhurst, and was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards in 1915. Before his 20th birthday he had won the DSO and French Croix de Guerre. He started his military career in World War I, when Winston Churchill entrusted him with the command of the 1st Airborne division. Browning was chosen for the inaugural Winter Games in 1924 but broke both his legs in a training accident the day before the event was due to be run. In 1935 Browning became commander of the 2nd Bataillon of the Grenadier Guards.

After a short period as commanding officer of the Small Arms School, he was given command of the 24th Guards Brigade in 1940. The following year, he was promoted to major-general commander of the 1st Airborne Division. In 1944, Browning was appointed commander of the 1st Airborne Corps and deputy to American Lieutenant-General Lewis H. Brereton as commanding general of the allied 1st Airborne Army during Operation Market Garden (Netherlands, 1944). When the operation was not successful, Browning was transferred to Southeast Asia as General-Secretary of the War Ministry. In 1932 Browning married the well-known novelist Daphne Du Maurier.

After World War II, Browning became head of Princess Elizabeth’s personal staff. After her coronation as Queen Elizabeth II he took over as head of the Office of the Duke of Edinburgh. He was Deputy Chairman of the British Olympic Association, and commandant of the British team at the 1948 Summer Olympics. For almost 20 years Browning was Commodore of the Royal Fowey Yacht Club and after his retirement its first Admiral.

When his health deteriorated because of his drinking, Browning resigned from his post in the Royal Household in 1959, but was awarded the Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order. During his last years, he lived in Menabilly Mansion, which had inspired Du Maurier’s novel Rebecca, made into a movie by Alfred Hitchcock. In 1963, two people were hurt in a car accident, which he had caused while under the influence of prescription drugs and alcohol. In 1965, Browning died from a heart attack.