Augustus FitzGeorge

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Colonel Sir Augustus Charles Frederick FitzGeorge, KCVO, CB (12 June 1847 – 30 October 1933) was a British Army officer and a relative of the royal family.

Born in London to Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, and Sarah Fairbrother, Augustus’s parents’ marriage was later ruled invalid under the Royal Marriages Act 1772. Because of that, Augustus was considered illegitimate and could not inherit the Dukedom of Cambridge. He trained at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and began his army career in 1864. He served in the 37th Regiment of Foot, then the Rifle Brigade, including five years in Montreal (1865–1870). He was promoted to lieutenant in 1869.

In 1870 he became aide-de-camp to General Napier in India and later joined the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII) on his India visit in 1875–76. Augustus became a captain in the Rifle Brigade in 1877, then transferred to the 11th Hussars in 1878. He rose through the ranks, becoming major in 1881, lieutenant colonel in 1886, and brevet colonel in 1888. From 1886 he served as equerry-in-waiting and private secretary to his father, who was Commander-in-Chief of the Forces. He retired from the Army in 1900.

FitzGeorge was honored for his service with the Companion of the Bath in 1895 and, in 1904, was made Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order. In his later years he pursued business and public health interests. He helped develop a golf course on the Coombe estate and led the Cobalt Townsite Silver Mining Company in Canada as well as the Casey Cobalt Mining Company. He also served as president of the National Health League, which advocated preventive healthcare and questioned germ theory as the sole cause of disease.

He was injured in a taxi accident in 1924 but recovered. Augustus FitzGeorge never married and died on 30 October 1933 in London at the age of 86. He was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery. He was the last surviving son of the Duke of Cambridge and the last member of the royal suite that accompanied the future King Edward VII to India.