Charles Royds

Vice-admiral Sir Charles William Rawson Royds KBE CMG ADC FRGS (1 February 1876 – 5 January 1931) was a career Royal Navy officer who later served as Assistant Commissioner "A" of the London Metropolitan Police from 1926 to 1931.

In this role, he was in charge of administration and uniformed operations and also carried the courtesy title of Deputy Commissioner.

In 1898, he received early promotion to lieutenant for his skilled command of a boat that picked up a man who had fallen overboard in the Baltic.

He served at Dover for a time and then was the last captain of the Royal Naval College, Osborne, from 2 January 1921 until its closure in May 1921.

On 3 June 1929, he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the Metropolitan Police Centenary Honours, and in the same year was made an ADC to the King.

He suffered a heart attack while attending a rehearsal of the Strauss Ball at the Savoy Hotel and was rushed to Charing Cross Hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival.

Sledge flag used by Royds in Antarctica during the Discovery Expedition