Sir Arthur Horace Penn, GCVO, MC (20 April 1886 – 30 December 1960), soldier and courtier, was a member of the Royal Household of the

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was th ...

Early life

Penn was the son of William Penn, of Taverham Hall, Norwich, where he was born in 1886. He was educated first at Eton, and later at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

where he read law, and was called to the bar of the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and ...

in 1910. He served as a captain in the

Grenadier Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

Special Force from 1916 to 1918, and was adjutant of the 2nd Battalion, and again from 1941 to 1945 as regimental adjutant. He was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC ...

and the

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

for services in World War I.

Royal service

He joined the Royal Household in 1937 at the time of the

coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The coronation of George VI and his wife, Elizabeth, as King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and as Emperor and Empress of India took place at Westminster Abbey, London, on Wednesday 12 May ...

and was a

Groom-in-Waiting The office of Groom in Waiting (sometimes hyphenated as Groom-in-Waiting) was a post in the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, which in earlier times was usually held by more than one person at a time – in the late Middle Ages there might be d ...

to the king, an Extra Equerry in 1940 private secretary to then Queen Elizabeth, when he was appointed as

Treasurer to the Queen The Keeper of the Privy Purse and Treasurer to the King/Queen (or Financial Secretary to the King/Queen) is responsible for the financial management of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. The officeholder is assisted by ...

, which became Treasurer to the Queen Mother upon the death of George VI. He was again appointed Groom-in-Waiting, to Queen Elizabeth II, in 1952. As a senior member of the royal household, he was a leading guest at the 1947

wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh The wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten took place on Thursday 20 November 1947 at Westminster Abbey in London, United Kingdom. The bride was the elder daughter of King George VI and heir presumptive to the British throne. The ...

. Royal Collection: Seating plan for the Ball Supper Room http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/microsites/royalwedding1947/object.asp?grouping=&exhibs=NONE&object=9000366&row=82&detail=magnify He was made CVO in 1946, advanced to KCVO in 1949, and to GCVO in 1953. Penn was chairman of the billbrokers King and Shaxson, Ltd; Steward of the Courts at Eton; and he was the best man at the marriage of

Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986) was a British Conservative statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Caricatured as " Supermac", ...

to Lady Dorothy Cavendish in 1920. He died a day before he was due to retire from royal service.

References

1886 births 1960 deaths Equerries Grenadier Guards officers Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) Recipients of the Military Cross People educated at Eton College Members of the Inner Temple British Army personnel of World War I British Army personnel of World War II {{England-bio-stub