Capt David Ernest Ashwyn Michael, who served in the Royal Leicestershire and The Royal Anglian Regiment from 1961 to 1968, died on 22 November 2009 in Anatalia, aged 69.

The son of the then Chaplain of the Tower of London, David was commissioned into the Tigers in 1961, serving initially in Münster. By then an accomplished sportsman, he had already distinguished himself in the Army Under-21 Pentathlon championships. He was a good rifle shot and skier, and his love and skill with horses led to that interest duly being passed to his children. In 1963 when 1 R Leicesters was posted to Hong Kong, he led a seven-man group in the 8th United States Army’s Honour Guard at United Nations HQ in Korea for three months. A good raconteur, his amusing account of that assignment appears in the Regimental History. On return to the Battalion’s fold, he then served two periods on active service: six months as a rifle platoon commander in the jungles of Borneo during the Indonesian Confrontation, followed a year later by six months as a support platoon in Aden and South Arabia during the British rundown.

When 4th (Leicestershire) Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment was posted to Malta, David was appointed ADC to the British High Commissioner, a job at which he excelled and where he could play polo, alongside the legendary Maj Gen Johnny Frost of Arnhem fame. In 1967 he became ADC to the Governor of Western Australia, Sir Douglas ‘Joe’ Kendrew, an even more distinguished Major General who was the last Colonel of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment.

In ‘Double U Aye’ – as the people of Western Australia call it – he enjoyed and contributed to the hospitality of that wonderful state, and there he subsequently spent many years of his life, selling prestige motor cars, working for the billionaire entrepreneur Alan Bond, and then becoming Personal Secretary to the Nizam of Hyderbad, a post which he held until the end of his life and for which service in 2005 he was granted the title of Nawab. By coincidence, in the Nizam’s family’s heraldic crest is a Tiger.

David always had a twinkle in his eye; often a smile on his face indicated that he was about to tell a funny story, and he would frequently double-up in hysterics. It was difficult not to notice him in a crowd, quite apart from the mirth which emanated from where he was standing. He was invariably impeccably dressed, notably wearing a shirt with detached starched collar, and tie secured by a stick pin. He was a generous man, among other things working for the Army Benevolent Fund in London, contributing to the Royal Leicesters’ welfare funds, and driving people to regimental events in his Rolls Royce.

David loved life; he loved his Regiment; and above all he loved his family. He was twice married. He was particularly close to his sister Rosemary and intensely proud of his children Henrietta and Alexander, daughter-in-law Lucy, and his grandson Bertie.

David’s father was on the Committee which rebuilt The Guards Chapel after it was bombed in the Second World War. It was particularly fitting, therefore, that the Service of Thanksgiving for his life took place there, with its powerful and prayerful symbols of Service, and where family and friends could salute the life of David Michael and thank God for it.

MKG