In 1905 he was promoted commander at the unusually early age of thirty and joined the cruiser HMS Europa.

This was appropriate, since he had once played rugby union for Blackheath, the Barbarians and the Royal Navy and had appeared three times for England.

In 1912, he was promoted captain and took a course at the Royal Naval War College in Portsmouth.

On St George's day, 23 April 1918, he was present at the great naval raid on Zeebrugge and Ostend.

[2] After the war, Royds was appointed Captain-in-Charge of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich.

In 1921 he was succeeded in this post by his younger brother, Captain Charles Royds, and took command of the battleship HMS Malaya in the Atlantic Fleet.