He served as Governor-General of Australia from to , the only Prince to hold the post. Henry was the first son of a British monarch to be educated at school, where he excelled at sports, and went on to attend Eton College , after which he was commissioned in the 10th Royal Hussars , a regiment he hoped to command.
However, his military career was frequently interrupted by royal duties, and he was nicknamed "the unknown soldier" due to his low profile. While big-game shooting in Kenya, he met the future pilot Beryl Markham , with whom he became romantically involved.
The court put pressure on him to end the relationship, but he had to pay regular hush-money to avert a public scandal. In , also under parental pressure, he married Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott , with whom he had two sons, princes William and Richard.
From to , Henry served in France as a liaison officer to Lord Gort. He performed military and diplomatic duties during the rest of the war, then in was appointed as Australia's governor-general at the request of Prime Minister John Curtin. The post had originally been offered to his younger brother the Duke of Kent , who died in an air crash.
Henry attended the coronation of his niece Queen Elizabeth II in and carried out several overseas tours, often accompanied by his wife. From , he became incapacitated by a number of strokes. Upon his death, he was succeeded as the Duke of Gloucester by his only living son, Richard. His widow, who died at the age of , became the longest-lived-ever member of the British royal family.
