Captain Sir Walter Douglas Somerset Campbell, KCVO (16 June 1840 – 17 April 1919) was a British soldier and courtier who served as Groom in Waiting to three British sovereigns and as Deputy Ranger of Windsor Great Park.
Walter Douglas Somerset Campbell was born on 16 June 1840, the son of Walter Frederick Campbell (1798–1855), of Islay and Woodhall, Lanark, MP, JP, DL, and his second wife Catherine, daughter of Stephen Thomas Cole and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Stanley.
[1][nb 1] The Campbells were noted and well-connected land-owners in the Scottish highlands; the elder Walter Campbell inherited the lairdship of Islay from his grandfather in 1816 and sat as a Member of Parliament for Argyll; his first wife, Lady Eleanor Charteris (1796–1832), was the daughter of the 7th Earl of Wemyss and their son, John Francis, is remembered as a noted folklorist.
Walter Frederick Campbell was nonetheless forced to sell Islay in 1847 to pay off enormous debts accrued during improvements to the island.
[11] Later that year, Queen Victoria appointed him one of her grooms-in-waiting, in succession to his elder brother, John Francis, who had resigned the post.