Colville never knew his maternal grandmother, who died young; his maternal grandfather, a Liberal Cabinet minister, remarried Margaret (Peggy) Primrose, daughter of Lord Rosebery, Liberal Prime Minister in 1894–1895, and his wife Hannah, heiress to her father’s Rothschild fortune.
Lady Cynthia, in addition to her duties as a Woman of the Bedchamber to Queen Mary, devoted her energies to alleviating the suffering of Shoreditch, one of the poorest areas of the East End of London.
Other relatives include O'Neill's successor James Chichester-Clark and Colville's aunt Mary Innes-Ker, Duchess of Roxburghe.
Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington, a Conservative politician who served as Foreign Secretary in the Cabinet of Margaret Thatcher from 1979 to 1982, was his second cousin.
[a] Colville served alongside Harry Legge-Bourke (his half–second cousin[a]) as a Page of Honour between 1927 and 1931, thanks to his mother's connections as attendant to the queen.
The original diaries are held at the Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge University and, with the exception of the final volume, are open to the public.
They illustrate the contrast between the "atmosphere of rush" about Churchill, as compared with the shorter hours and reduced energy levels associated with his older predecessor Neville Chamberlain, whom Colville had also served.
[4] Colville served in World War II as a pilot in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR), 1941–1944.
Colville is portrayed by James D'Arcy in the 2009 film Into the Storm and by Nicholas Rowe in the Netflix television series The Crown.