Pièce 20 - Letter with enclosure, from Alexander Hardinge

Major Alexander Henry Louis Hardinge, 2nd Baron Hardinge of Penshurst, GCB, GCVO, MC, PC was Private Secretary to the Sovereign during the Abdication Crisis of Edward VIII and during most of the Second World War. Hardinge was born in 1894, the son of Charles Hardinge (who was created Baron Hardinge of Penshurst in 1910 and served as Viceroy of India from 1910 to 1916). He was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards and fought in the First World War, alongside his brother, rising to the rank of Lieutenant and winning the Military Cross. In 1920, he became Assistant Private Secretary to George V and was promoted Captain. On 8 February 1921, he married Helen Gascoyne-Cecil (a daughter of Lord Edward Gascoyne-Cecil and his wife, Violet) and they had three children. In 1929 he was promoted Major. Hardinge served as Assistant Private Secretary up until George V's death in 1936.