Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester

Born 26 August 1944, Richard Alexander Walter George was the second son of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, and fifth in line to the throne — a position distant enough to plan an ordinary career. He trained and practised as an architect, building a life outside palace walls. Then his elder brother William died, and the path to the dukedom opened where none had been before. He married Birgitte van Deurs Henriksen on 8 July 1972. Two years later, in 1974, he succeeded his father as Duke of Gloucester, stepping into a role of royal representation he'd spent his youth assuming belonged to someone…