Career
On 15 April 1936, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Northumberland Hussars. He became 10th Duke of Northumberland on 21 May 1940 when his childless elder brother was killed in action in Flanders, Belgium, in the leadup to the Battle of Dunkirk. In 1940, as a lieutenant, he transferred to the Royal Regiment of Artillery. He served in Crete and on the North African campaign. In 1947, as a captain, he transferred back to the Northumberland Hussars.
Following the death of his brother, he took his seat in the House of Lords as a Conservative Lord Temporal, making his maiden speech on 29 November 1944 in reply to King George VI's Speech from the Throne. He also took on management of the family estates, namely Alnwick Castle in Northumberland, Albury Park in Surrey and Syon House in London. He also succeeded his brother as Master of the Percy Foxhounds.
On 1 June 1945, he was appointed Lord-in-waiting to King George VI, remaining in the position until 23 October 1945. As Lord-in-Waiting, he was a junior government whip in the Churchill caretaker ministry. He carried Curtana at the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. In 1957, he gained the additional peerage of Baron Percy upon the death of his kinsman, James, 9th Duke of Atholl.
In 1963, when the University of Newcastle upon Tyne became independent from the University of Durham, Northumberland was appointed their first Chancellor and retained the post until his death. As chancellor, the Duke presented an honorary degree to Martin Luther King Jr. in November 1967, five months before Dr King's assassination. He donated many books and works of art to the university's library.
He was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland on 18 May 1956, a position previously held by his father and many of his ancestors which he held until 1984. On 2 January 1973, Northumberland succeeded the 10th Viscount Cobham as Lord Steward of the Household of Queen Elizabeth II, the most senior of the Great Offices of the Royal Households of the United Kingdom.
In 1970, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. On 9 March 1973, he was appointed a member of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts. He chaired or was a member of a number of councils and committees such as the Agricultural Research Council, Medical Research Council and the Committee of Enquiry on Foot and Mouth Disease. He was president of the Royal Agricultural Society of England in 1956 and 1962 and president of the Roxburghe Club from 1975 to 1988.
He held the position of Honorary Colonel in various battalions of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, Northumbrian Volunteers and the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.
In recognition of his service, on 24 April 1959, he was appointed the 922nd Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter and made a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order in the 1981 Birthday Honours.
