Background
Hardinge was born in 1894, the son of The Honorary
Hardinge was born in 1894, the son of The Honorary
Charles Hardinge (who was created Baron Hardinge of Penshurst in 1910 and served as Viceroy of India from 1910 to 1916). In 1920, he became Assistant Private Secretary to George V and was promoted Captain. In 1929 he was promoted Major.
Hardinge served as Assistant Private Secretary up until King George V"s death in 1936.
He was promoted to Private Secretary upon the accession of Edward VIII that same year, contributing to some delicate negotiations between Edward and the British Government in the run up to Edward"s abdication in December 1936. He continued in this role under George VI until his early retirement in 1943.
Significantly, as Brandi McCarry"s commentary has pointed out, Hardinge"s ultimate loyalty lay towards the King in Parliament rather than personally to a monarch in conflict with the Government. This was particularly reflected in Hardinge"s warning letter to King Edward received on November 13, 1936, which showed evidence of prior consultation with Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, who, with his Cabinet, had serious misgivings about the suitability of Mrs Wallis Simpson as the possible spouse of the monarch.
The precise nature of this loyalty was thus reflected in his official style of Private Secretary to the Sovereign (understood against the Sovereign"s place in the British Constitution).
In 1936 he also retired from the Army. Hardinge"s elder brother, Edward, had died from wounds received in action in 1914 and so Hardinge succeeded as Baron Hardinge of Penshurst, on the demise of his father a year later, in 1944.