1980, and was promoted to brigadier in 1981 to take command of the 6th Armoured Brigade in Germany, his first duty with the British Army of the Rhine. He then took command of a British military team in Zimbabwe in 1983, establishing a working relationship with Robert Mugabe in the years after Zimbabwe became independent in 1980, for which he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Jones was promoted to major general in 1985, and became Director-General of the Territorial Army at the Ministry of Defence. He then took command of the 3rd Armoured Division in Germany in 1987. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1988 when he was promoted to lieutenant general, when he returned to London to become Quartermaster-General to the Forces. He was tasked with remodelling the Army's logistics after the end of the Cold War, and continued in that position through the 1991 Gulf War. He was also Colonel Commandant of the Royal Army Education Corps from 1986 to 1992, and of the Royal Green Jackets from 1988 to 1995. Jones was promoted general in 1992, and became the UK Military Representative to NATO in Brussels, where he was able to make use of his fluent French. Retirement Jones retired from the army in 1995 to become Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod (and ex officio Serjeant-at-Arms in the House of Lords, and Secretary to the Lord Great Chamberlain). The House of Lords Act 1999 was passed during his period of service, ending the right of hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords. He served as Black Rod from 9 May 1995 to 8 May 2001, and was appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order when he retired in 2001. Jones was a commissioner of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea and chairman of the Council of Territorial Army, Volunteers and Reserves Associations from 1995 to 2001. He was also a vice-patron of St Dunstan's, a governor of Wellington College from 1997 to 2007, and chairman of the governors of Eagle House from 1999 to 2007. Personal life Jones married Suzanne Leschallas in 1965. They had two sons and a daughter together. He retired to a village in Wiltshire. He died while fishing on the River Findhorn in Inverness-shire. . References Obituary, The Daily Telegraph, 17 May 2007 Obituary, The Independent, 17 May