Group Captain Sir Louis Leisler Greig, KBE CVO (17 November 1880 – 1 March 1953) was a Scottish naval surgeon,

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

player, courtier and a friend of

King George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of In ...

Rugby union

Greig was a successful rugby player, and was capped for and the British Lions when they took their 1903 British Lions tour to South Africa.Bath, p117 He took part in all three Tests against as well as some of the provincial matches.

Biography

Grieg was born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

on 17 November 1880, the ninth of the eleven children of Jessie, ''née'' Thomson (1844–1915) and Robert David Greig (1838–1900), a prosperous merchant and founder of the Glasgow and West of Scotland Association for Women's Suffrage. Greig was educated at Glasgow Academy and

Merchiston Castle School Merchiston Castle School is an independent boarding school for boys in the suburb of Colinton in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has around 470 pupils and is open to boys between the ages of 7 and 18 as either boarding or day pupils; it was modelle ...

before studying medicine at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. Academically gifted, Greig was also an excellent

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

and

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

player. After a few years practicing as a junior doctor in the Gorbals, he joined the navy in 1906 and won the gold medal during his training at

Haslar Haslar is on the south coast of England, at the southern tip of Alverstoke, on the Gosport peninsula, Hampshire. It takes its name from the Old English , meaning " hazel-landing place". It may have been named after a bank of hazel strewn on ...

. In 1909, Greig entered officer training at the

Royal Naval College, Osborne The Royal Naval College, Osborne, was a training college for Royal Navy officer cadets on the Osborne House estate, Isle of Wight, established in 1903 and closed in 1921. Boys were admitted at about the age of thirteen to follow a course last ...

, where he met Prince Albert, later

George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of I ...

. He lived at Thatched House Lodge at the time. He served as a mentor for the gauche and diffident prince, and the two served together in HMS ''Cumberland'', where he was posted as a surgeon. He was transferred to the

Royal Marines The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious warfare, amphibious light infantry and also one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighti ...

in 1914, and was captured at the fall of

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, spending eight months as a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of ...

. Earlier his elder brother Robert C Greig of Capelrig, Renfrewshire had founded the firm of RC Greig stockbrokers of Glasgow and London, and his elder sister Constance had married John Scrimgeour, stockbroker in London.Bath, p117 Released by a prisoner exchange, Greig married Phyllis Scrimgeour (a cousin of John Scrimgeour) on 16 February 1916, by whom he had three children: *Bridget Greig (b. 1917), married Sir Ninian Buchan-Hepburn, 6th Baronet in 1958 *Jean Greig (1920–1973), married Joseph Cooper in 1947 *Captain Sir (Henry Louis) Carron Greig, KCVO, CBE, DL (b. 21 February 1925), a businessman and ship broker,

Gentleman Usher Gentleman Usher is a title for some officers of the Royal Household of the United Kingdom. See List of Gentlemen Ushers for a list of office-holders. Gentlemen Ushers as servants Historical Gentlemen Ushers were originally a class of servants fou ...

in Ordinary to

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

from 1961 to 1995; he married Monica Stourton in 1955; the couple has three sons, one of whom, Louis Stourton Greig (born 1956), served as Page of Honour to

, as well as a daughter. Greig joined the company of HMS ''Malaya'' in June 1917, rejoining Prince Albert, and helped cure the Prince of the severe peptic ulcers from which he suffered. During the next seven years, he was extensively in attendance on the Prince, receiving an appointment as an equerry to the Prince in 1918. Prince Albert and his Equerry both joined the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

in 1919 (Greig rising to the rank of Wing Commander), and the two were partners at Wimbledon, an event which brought Greig's influence with the Prince into public light. He continued to mentor and advise the Prince (created Duke of York in 1920), acting as a surrogate father and encouraging his social life. He encouraged the Duke of York's courtship of

Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon 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 the l ...

, which was ultimately to have significant consequences for Greig's relations with the Duke. While he was made a CVO (26 April 1923) for his services, Elizabeth, as Duchess of York, gradually displaced him as an intimate of the Duke. Ultimately, Greig was omitted from a royal tour of the

Balkan The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

s and consequently resigned his equerryship. However, he was created a

in Ordinary on 1 March 1924. Greig's subsequent life was uneventful. He successfully joined J&A Scrimgeour (a firm connected with his wife) as a

stockbroker A stockbroker is a regulated broker, broker-dealer, or registered investment adviser (in the United States) who may provide financial advisory and investment management services and execute transactions such as the purchase or sale of stock ...

. He went into a brief eclipse under King

Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 1 ...

, who disliked him, and resigned his ushership on 21 July 1936. However, upon the accession of his friend, King George VI, he was appointed an Extra Gentleman Usher (1 March 1937), and was also elected chairman of Wimbledon. He rejoined the RAF in 1939, serving as a liaison with the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of Stat ...

and reaching the rank of group captain. He was operated on for cancer in 1952, but succumbed in early 1953 and was buried in

Ham, Surrey Ham is a suburban district in Richmond, south-west London. It has meadows adjoining the River Thames where the Thames Path National Trail also runs. Most of Ham is in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and, chiefly, within the ward of ...

Political activities

Despite being a stockbroker he formed a friendship with the Labour Party leader Ramsay MacDonald. Greig played a small role in the formation of the National Government in 1931, and was appointed KBE on 3 June 1932, in which year he was also appointed Deputy Ranger of Richmond Park. He was a vocal opponent of appeasement. He told the Oregonian newspaper in Portland, Oregon ‘We are pushing our armament programmes as rapidly as we can, because in Europe as it is today we believe in the strong man armed’. He helped a number of Jewish families find asylum in Britain. Painter Joseph Oppenheimer would have found it impossible to leave Germany without his help and that of Sir John Lavery.

Sources

* Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Scotland Rugby Miscellany'' (Vision Sports Publishing Ltd, 2007; ) * Biography of Louis Greig - ''Louis and the Prince'' - by grandson Geordie Greig, published in 1999 by Hodder and Stoughton * Goodwin, Terry ''Complete Who's Who of International Rugby'' (Cassell, 1987; ) * (subscription required)

References

External links

Louis Greig, the Man Who Made George VI
- Website The Royal Universe {{DEFAULTSORT:Greig, Louis Leisler 1880 births 1953 deaths 20th-century Scottish businesspeople Royal Marines officers Alumni of the University of Glasgow British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Scotland British World War I prisoners of war Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Deaths from cancer in England Gentlemen Ushers Glasgow University RFC players Louis Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Military personnel from Glasgow People educated at Merchiston Castle School People educated at the Glasgow Academy People educated at the Royal Naval College, Osborne Residents of Thatched House Lodge Royal Air Force officers Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Marines personnel of World War I Royal Navy Medical Service officers Royal Navy officers of World War I Rugby union players from Glasgow Scotland international rugby union players Scottish male tennis players Scottish rugby union players Stockbrokers United Services players World War I prisoners of war held by Germany Rugby union forwards