He descends through Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton born to the King's mistress Barbara Villiers.

Charles had many children but none legitimate; at his death, the crown passed to his brother, a Catholic who was deposed and whose progeny were excluded on that basis, save for his two daughters raised as Protestants.

He was subsequently commissioned into the Grenadier Guards, and for three years from 1943 was Aide-de-camp to the Viceroy of India, Field Marshal Viscount Wavell.

He was chairman and later president of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, and also chaired at various times the Historic Churches Preservation Trust, the Architectural Heritage Fund, the Church of England's Cathedral Advisory Commission and Sir John Soane's Museum.

[4] On 12 October 1946, he married Ann Fortune Smith (Mistress of the Robes to Queen Elizabeth II from 1967 until her death).