Major General Miles Francis Stapleton Fitzalan-Howard, 17th Duke of Norfolk, (21 July 1915 – 24 June 2002) was a British Army general and peer. He was the eldest son of Bernard Fitzalan-Howard, 3rd Baron Howard of Glossop, and his wife Mona Stapleton, 11th Baroness Beaumont. In 1975, he inherited the Dukedom of Norfolk from his second cousin once removed, making him the premier duke in the Peerage of England. Military career Educated at Ampleforth College and Christ Church, Oxford, Miles Fitzalan-Howard was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Territorial Army as a university candidate on 3 July 1936. and was subsequently commissioned in the same rank in the Grenadier Guards on 27 August 1937, with seniority from 30 January 1936. His service number was 52703. He was promoted to lieutenant on 30 January 1939 and to captain on 30 January 1944. In April 1944, as a temporary major during the Second World War, he was awarded the Military Cross for reconnaissance of mined roads. He was at the time on foot and under enemy fire. He was quoted in his obituary in The Independent as saying: "Anyone can be the Duke of Norfolk, but I'm rather proud of that medal." Fitzalan-Howard was promoted to the substantive rank of major on 30 January 1949. Promoted to lieutenant-colonel on 28 February 1955, he was appointed Chief of the British mission to the Soviet forces in Germany in 1957, and received a promotion to colonel on 24 April 1958 He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), Military Division, in the 1960 New Year Honours. In 1961, he was appointed Commander of the 70th Brigade (King's African Rifles and the Kenya Regiment), just before Kenyan independence. Promoted to brigadier on 1 January 1963, he became General Officer Commanding 1st Division on 5 November, with the rank of temporary major general. He was confirmed in the substantive rank of major-general in February 1964, retroactive to 5 November and with seniority from 10 April 1963. After relinquishing his command on 5 November 1965, he became Director of Management and Support Intelligence at the Ministry of Defence on 6 January 1966 Appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 1966 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed Director of Service Intelligence at the Ministry of Defence on 29 July. He relinquished this appointment on 18 September of