was invested as a Member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO) in 1939. During the Second World War, he returned with Probyn's Horse in August 1940 and rose to become temporary second in command by April 1942, later he served on the Staff. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 21 December 1943 but was retired due to ill-health on 4 June 1945. Personal life He married, firstly, Elizabeth Vere Drummond Ogilvie, daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Sir George Drummond Ogilvie and Lorna Rome, on 7 March 1931 at Delhi, India. The couple had a son and daughter; they divorced in 1954. In the meantime, he had succeeded to his father's titles on 17 May 1951. He married, secondly, Joan Pollack Graham, by then known as Jane, daughter of Christopher Norman Graham, on 22 February 1954. After his death, Lady Birdwood became an activist on the far-right of British politics. Christopher Birdwood had a strong interest in humanitarian affairs: after World War 2 he was briefly Head of the British Red Cross, and later Chairman of the Hungarian Relief Fund. His concern about the spreading influence of communism during the "cold war" was exhibited in his speeches in the House of Lords, in becoming a Director of the Free Czechoslovak Information Service (1954–1961), his involvement in the British Tibet Society, and in numerous articles for the British press. His son from his first marriage, Mark William Ogilvie Birdwood (1938–2015), succeeded to the title. Works The Worcestershire Regiment, 1922–1950 (Gale & Polden, 1952) A Continent Decides (Praeger, 1954) Two Nations and Kashmir (Robert Hale, 1956) Nuri as-Said: a study in Arab leadership (Cassell, 1959) A Continent Experiments (Literary Licensing, 2013). . Coat of arms References External links 1899 births 1962 deaths 2 British military personnel of the Waziristan Campaign Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Indian Army personnel of World War I Indian Army personnel of World War II Members of the Royal Victorian Order People educated at Clifton College British Indian Army officers Writers about the Kashmir conflict Place of birth missing