[2] Lascelles joined the British Army where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Grenadier Guards (his father's regiment) in 1942, attaining the rank of captain.

He fought with the 3rd Battalion of the regiment, part of the 1st Guards Brigade of the 78th Infantry Division (the brigade was later transferred to the 6th Armoured Division), serving in North Africa and Italy, but was wounded and captured at Monte Corno on 18 June 1944, the anniversary of both his father's injury in the First World War and the Battle of Waterloo, in which his great-great-grandfather was injured.

As the nephew of King George VI, Lascelles was one of the Prominente at Colditz, considered a potential bargaining chip by the Nazis.

Our fear was that someone would rumble that the bargaining power was a great deal less than they'd at first thought it was – they'd calculated one way and then it turned out another, and then we'd become expendable.

We spent the last night of our time not at Colditz but actually in Austria by then, where the guns of the guards were pointing outwards at the Gestapo who might come in rather than in at us who might try to get out.In March 1945, Adolf Hitler signed his death warrant; the SS general in command of prisoner-of-war camps, Gottlob Berger, realizing the war was lost, refused to carry out the sentence and released Lascelles to the Swiss.

A music enthusiast, Lord Harewood devoted most of his career to opera with his Yorkshire heritage fostering his interest; in March 1949, as a young single man, he had been among the audience at the Leeds Town Hall for a performance of operatic works by the Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra.

In February 1950, it was reported that he had launched the magazine at a large party at the London house of Richard Buckle with many music-loving guests in attendance.

Lord Harewood served as a governor of the BBC from 1985 to 1987 and as the president of the British Board of Film Classification from 1985 to 1996.

He was ranked number 1355 in the Sunday Times Rich List 2008 with an estimated wealth of £55 million—his magnificent art treasures, held in trust and valued at more than £50 million, and a 3,000 acres (12 km2) estate outside Leeds.

Queen Mary, mother of George VI, objected to the marriage but permission was eventually granted.

[15] Benjamin Britten, a friend of the Stein family, composed an anthem, "Amo Ergo Sum", for the wedding ceremony.

[16] Lord and Lady Harewood had three sons: The earl's marriage to Marion Stein ended in divorce in 1967, after the earl's mistress, Patricia "Bambi" Tuckwell – an Australian violinist and sister of the musician Barry Tuckwell – gave birth to his son.

This was considered an enormous scandal at the time, and caused the couple to be ostracised for some years, even after their relationship was made legal.