See Obituary below - from the Daily Telegraph dated 9/4/07

Major-General Gerald Green, who has died aged 91, was one of the last of a breed of English gentlemen abroad, serving as private secretary to Sheikh Eissa bin Sulman Al Khalifa, Emir of Bahrain, for 36 years and performing the same function for his successor; he never gave thought to retirement even when he entered his tenth decade.

He had arrived in Bahrain in 1956, and was soon dealing with the Emir's British business. He was always on hand when distinguished British visitors came to Bahrain; when the Emir's children went to school or to military college abroad, Green accompanied them as guardian. He was a model of courtesy and discretion. As one of his friends put it: "He served his master without ever in any way serving himself."

Justice in Bahrain could be severe: for a crime such as theft, due warning would be given, and then, if the crime were repeated, the offender's hand would be cut off. Green respected this custom, since it ensured that the country was virtually free of crime. He was also a stickler for etiquette and old-fashioned standards: he would not, for example, allow an unmarried couple to cohabit under his roof.

advertisementGeorge Lewis Gerald Green (always known as Gerald) was born at Hazel Grove, Cheshire, on June 8 1915. For four years he attended Ackworth School, but ill health dictated that he was educated privately thereafter.

He served throughout the Second World War, having enlisted as a sapper in the Royal Engineers in 1939. He was sent to France, and, after being evacuated from Dunkirk, volunteered for overseas service and was posted to the Sudan. He attended Middle East OCTU and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant, 1st Battalion, the Durham Light Infantry.

He was wounded at Tobruk and returned to Egypt with his battalion. In 1941 Green was sent to Malta, where he was appointed ADC to Major-General Ronald Scobie, GOC Troops, Malta. The next year he attended Middle East Junior Staff College and was posted to SOE, Cairo, with the rank of captain, GSO 3. In 1944 Scobie took him to Greece when he became GOC Armed Forces there, by which time Green was a major, GSO 2.

In 1945 he was awarded the War Cross for Valour in Greece, was twice mentioned in dispatches, and appointed Commander of the Order of the Redeemer (Greece). He served with Scobie until his discharge to England in 1946, at which point he was transferred to the Reserve.

An important feature of Green's life was his close friendship - forged in Athens in the last days of the war - with Prince Philip's mother, Princess Andrew of Greece. She was one of two Greek princesses who remained in Athens throughout the war, the other being Princess Nicholas (the mother of Princess Marina). It fell to Green, on Scobie's instructions, to effect Princess Nicholas's move from Psychico into Princess Andrew's house when fighting was intense in Athens in December 1944.

While Princess Andrew was more than prepared to accommodate her sister-in-law, Princess Nicholas proved difficult; Green recalled that she strode up and down reminding him that she had lived in the Royal Palace during the German occupation. But Green was persuasive, reminding her that he had been wounded on his way to see her, and that his driver had been shot dead at his side.

The two princesses dwelt together on limited rations and in an atmosphere of restrained truce. One day Princess Andrew failed to observe the curfew, and when she returned home from a dangerous impromptu visit distributing cigarettes to soldiers and chocolates to children, Green shot out of his chair and demanded: "Where have you been?"

Princess Nicholas was shocked, but Princess Andrew replied: "You know, it's years since a man spoke to me like that!" From that moment till her death (in 1969) a firm bond was established, and she visited Green in Bahrain in 1961.

In 1947 Green rejoined the service as GSO 3 at the War Office. Five years later he was posted to Command, War Office Intelligence Training Group, Northern Ireland. He was discharged to the Reserve in 1955. The following year Green was invited to establish and command the military wing of Bahrain's public security department, and he remained in the country until his death. In 1963 he was appointed private secretary to the Emir, after whose death he became counsellor to the new Emir, Sheikh Hamed bin Eissa Al Khalifa.

Retirement to England was never an option. Green used to like to compare notes with his friend, Sir Ralph Anstruther, the Queen Mother's treasurer. They both agreed that they would serve their royal masters for as long as they lived. But they concluded that if Green needed a hip operation, the Emir would dispatch him to the best surgeon in the world, while Anstruther would probably be left to the good offices of the National Health Service.

After the old Emir's death in 1999 Green was appointed CBE. In 2001 he was promoted to the rank of retired major-general of the Bahrain Defence Force, and awarded the Order of Sheikh Eissa Bin Sulman Al-Khalifa.

He was for many years a member of the Oriental Club, where he stayed on his regular visits to London, and he was a generous supporter of the Society of the Friends of St George's at Windsor.

Gerald Green, who died on March 10, was buried in Bahrain's New Christian Cemetery. He had a son by an early marriage.