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Auction: 12002 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals & Militaria
Lot: 308

The following 23 Lots all include the case of issue. These have in the majority of cases been labelled by the recipient with the country and date of issue Luxembourg, Grand Duchy, Order of Civil and Military Merit of Adolphe of Nassau, Military Division, Officer´s breast Badge, with crossed swords and without crown suspension, 38mm, silver-gilt and enamel, very fine, with rosette on riband, in case of issue, with lapel rosette and riband bar, together with the following related documents: - Bestowal Document for the Officer of the Order of Civil and Military Merit of Adolphe of Nassau, named to Lieutenant-Colonel Blair Stewart-Wilson, and dated 8.11.1976 - Buckingham Palace Restricted Permission to wear letter, named to Lieutenant-Colonel Blair Stewart-Wilson, dated 16.8.1977, and signed ´Martin Charteris´ - Extract of the Statutes of the Order of Civil and Military Merit of Adolphe of Nassau Estimate £ 200-240 Awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel Blair Stewart-Wilson during H.M. The Queen´s State Visit to Luxembourg, 8-12.11.1976. Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Blair Aubyn Stewart-Wilson, K.C.V.O., was born in Chelsea, London, on the 17th July 1929, and was educated at Eton and Sandhurst. Commissioned Second Lieutenant, Scots Guards, in 1949, he served with the Regiment on active service in Malaya, and later with the British Army of the Rhine in Germany. In February 1952 he was a subaltern of the Buckingham Palace detachment of the King´s Guard when, overnight, it became the Queen´s Guard, and he was one of the Officers who kept vigil at the catafalque of King George VI as he lay in state in Westminster Hall- the following year he commanded half a company of street liners on the Mall at the Coronation. He served as Adjutant of the 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards, from 1955-57, when he was appointed Aide-de-Camp to Viscount Cobham, the Governor-General of New Zealand, a post he held for the next two years. His first appointment with the Royal Family was in 1960, when he was appointed Equerry to H.R.H. the Duke of Gloucester. In 1965 he returned to active duty with the Scots Guards in Borneo, where he commanded the Right Flank of the Regiment during the campaign there, and the following year took up the position of Regimental Adjutant. In 1975 he was appointed Defence, Military, and Air Attaché at the British Embassy in Vienna, a post that was supposed to last three years. However, it was cut short the following year when he was appointed Deputy Master of the Household and Equerry to H.M. The Queen, with particular responsibility for the Queen´s private engagements, as well as helping to run the Household´s biggest department, in charge of food and housekeeping. He was also involved in every aspect of court life, including state visits and banquets, garden parties, foreign tours, and occasions such as the state opening of Parliament, investitures, and Royal Ascot. For a while he was also responsible for the granting of Royal Warrants. Appointed a Member Fourth Class (later Lieutenant) of the Royal Victorian Order in 1983, he was promoted to Commander in 1989, and was created a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order on his retirement in 1994. In 2003 he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding the Atholl Highlanders, and as Chieftain, took the salute each year at the annual Atholl Gathering and Highland Games. Sir Blair Stewart-Wilson died at home in Somerset on the 24th May 2011.

Sold for
£350