Henry Peyron

Henry Peyron was the son of Vice Admiral Edvard Svante Knut Peyron, who graduated from the officers’ school in 1903 and joined the Life Regiment Dragoons as a second lieutenant. In 1906, he was promoted to lieutenant and studied at the Royal Swedish Army Staff College from 1910-12. For the next years, he was a General Staff aspirant. In 1917, he became a cavalry master and was then transferred as a captain to the General Staff. For some months in 1918, he joined the Finnish army as a lieutenant colonel in the Finnish Civil War but soon returned to Sweden, where he resumed his military career. Until 1926, he alternated between the Life Regiment Dragoons and the General Staff, where he eventually remained, in the meantime promoted to major. During this period, he served as military attaché in Rome (1919–21) and in Berlin (1924–26). Peyron rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the General Staff in 1928.

As an avid equestrian, Peyron was chairman of field riding clubs and a member of the board of the Swedish Equestrian Federation (1937-43). He was appointed colonel and second-in-command of the Life Regiment on Horseback in 1937. Three years later, he was promoted to major general and cavalry inspector, a position he held until 1943, when he retired. He was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Military Sciences and wrote several articles on military and political subjects.

As a fencer, Peyron competed in the 1908 Olympic Games in London in both épée events but with minor success. In 1912, he was again included in the Swedish fencing team but did not start.

Peyron married Louise “Duekie” Reuterskiöld in 1908. They had two daughters and two sons - both of whom became major generals. In Sweden, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the Sword and Knight of the Order of Vasa; abroad, he was awarded the Order of the German Eagle, the Grand Cross of the White Rose of Finland and many others throughout Europe.