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The Rt Hon the Lord Kingsdown KG
Late Grenadier Guards
by Major P A J Wright OBE
formerly Grenadier Guards
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 The Rt Hon the Lord Kingsdown KG, formerly Robin Leigh-Pemberton, died on 24th November 2013, aged 86. He was born on 5th January 1927. His father, RD Leigh-Pemberton, served in the Grenadier Guards during World War I, and was awarded an MC as a pilot with the Royal Flying Corps. Robin was educated at Eton and Sandhurst, where he won the Sword of Honour. He was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards and for three years after 1945 served with the 3rd Battalion on internal security operations in Palestine. He was reported on as ‘the best officer student’ on an Ack Pack flame thrower course, a weapon which he operated with confidence. He placed great value on his military service and recalled ‘I was lucky enough to be in a very good battalion of the Grenadiers - it taught me a lot about leadership’.
Robin left the Army in 1948 to read classics as a scholar at Trinity College, Oxford. In 1954 he was called to the Bar and practised as a barrister until 1960. For family reasons he then managed the 2,500 acre Leigh-Pemberton estate near Sittingbourne, before embarking on a highly successful business career. He served both as a JP and as Leader of Kent County Council until he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Kent in 1982. The following year he became Governor of the Bank of England, a post he held for a decade marked by banking collapses, de-regulation in financial services and disagreements over monetary policy. Despite the turbulence of his Governorship, he was admired as a man of stature and competence. He was appointed a Privy Councillor in 1987. As Lord Lieutenant, he flew the Union Flag over his house, Torry Hill, which overlooked his own cricket pitch and miniature railway.
He was Honorary Colonel of a number of Territorial units and President of the then Territorial and Auxiliary and Volunteer Reserve Association for the South East. He was ennobled in 1993 and appointed a Knight of the Garter in 1994. Greatly respected by his peers, he was appointed Chairman of the Association of Lord Lieutenants from 1998 to 2001. As Lord Lieutenant, he presided over numerous Royal visits and was at the Queen’s side for the openings of the QEII Bridge and the Channel Tunnel. Previously he had been Vice President of the East Kent Branch of the Grenadier Guards Association, and continued to support Regimental occasions throughout his life, where his friendly manner and good humour endeared him to everyone involved.
He married in 1953, Rosemary, daughter of Lieutenant Colonel DWAD Forbes MC and stepdaughter of Lord Exeter. She survives him with their four sons. Another son predeceased him.
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