Anthony Loyd is a noted British war correspondent. A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories first-hand from a war zone. ...

Early life

Loyd was born in 1966, grew up in Hampshire and attended Eton College. He served with the British Army in Northern Ireland and in the first Persian Gulf war. The Kings College of Our Lady of Eton beside Windsor, commonly known as Eton College or just Eton, is a public school (that is, an independent, fee-charging secondary school) for boys. ... The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ... Royal motto: Quis separabit (Latin: Who will separate?) Northern Irelands location within the UK Official languages English, Irish, Ulster Scots Capital and largest city Belfast First Minister Office suspended Area  - Total Ranked 4th 13,843 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 4th 1,685,267 122/km² NUTS 1... Map of the Persian Gulf. ...

War correspondent

Later he became a war photographer and a relief correspondent for The Daily Telegraph in Bosnia. Afterwards he was put on retainer by The Times of London and regularly sent to war zones around the world. This article concerns the British newspaper. ... Bosnia and Herzegovina (officially Bosna i Hercegovina, shortened to BiH, also in English variously written Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Bosnia-Hercegovina) is a mountainous country in the western Balkans. ... The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom. ...

Among the wars he reported were the conflicts in Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya, Afganistan, Sierra Leone and Iraq. Loyd was noted for the risks he took in pursuing his stories. He was alleged to have taken heroin while in Bosnia. Bosnia and Herzegovina (officially Bosna i Hercegovina, shortened to BiH, also in English variously written Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Bosnia-Hercegovina) is a mountainous country in the western Balkans. ... Kosovo and Metohia (Serbian: Косово и Метохија / Kosovë, Albanian: Kosovë / Kosova), in English most often called just Kosovo, is a province of Serbia. ... The Chechen Republic (Chechen: Нохчийн Республика/Noxçiyn [Nokhchiyn] Respublika, Russian: Чеченская Республика), informal Chechnya (Chechen: Нохчичьо/Noxçiyçö/Nokhchiyno, Russian: Чечня), Ichkeria, Chechnia or Chechenia, is currently a constituent republic of the Russian Federation. ... Afghanistan (Pashtu/Iran in the west, Pakistan in the south and east, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the easternmost part of the country. ...

His most recent bylines (as of Sept. 15, 2005) have been from Baghdad, where he has been out on patrol with both the American and Iraqi forces. A street map of Baghdad Average temperature (red) and precipitations (blue) in Baghdad For other meanings see Baghdad (disambiguation) Baghdad (Arabic: ) is the capital of Iraq and the Baghdad Province. ...

Author

My War Gone By, I Miss It So , is a noted book based on his experiences in Chechnya and Yugoslavia. As the title suggests, Loyd was attracted to the adrenalin rush that the danger of war brought. He found peacetime dull. Kirkus Reviewers described My War Gone By... as "... a breathtaking, soul shattering book..."

While in Chechnya during the war against the Russians, surely one of the most dangerous places in the world, he was held a captive for a time by Chechnyan guerillas.

Like his famous great-grandfather

Loyd's risk taking shows similarity to his maternal great-grandfather, Lieutenant General Sir Adrian Carton De Wiart, V.C.(1880-1963). De Wiart frankly admitted liking war and was one of the bravest men of his generation. Unlike Loyd, the great-grandfather was able to keep excitement in his life while not in battle (Boer War, World War One, Polish-Soviet War, Polish-Ukrainian War, World War Two) with a strenuous life of hunting, fishing, polo, fox hunting and pig sticking. Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. ... Lieutenant General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart VC, KBE, CB, CMG, DSO, (May 5, 1880 - June 5, 1963), was a British officer of Belgian and Irish descent. ... Boer guerrillas during the Second Boer War There were two Boer wars, one from December 16, 1880-March 23, 1881 and the second from October 11, 1899-May 31, 1902 both between the British and the settlers of Dutch, French and German origin (called Boers, Afrikaners or Voortrekkers) in South... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... The Polish-Soviet War or Russo-Polish War — in Polish, often called the Bolshevik War (Wojna bolszewicka) — was the war (February 1919 – March 1921) that determined the borders between two nascent states in post-World War I Europe, Soviet Russia and the Second Polish Republic. ... Orlęta, a 1926 painting by Wojciech Kossak The Polish-Ukrainian War of 1918 and 1919 was a conflict between the forces of Poland and Western-Ukrainian Peoples Republic for the control over the Eastern Galicia after the dissolution of Austria-Hungary. ... German soldiers at the Battle of Stalingrad World War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the worlds nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. ...

Though Loyd was born three years after his great-grandfather's death in 1963, the fact that he had a poor relationship with his father may well have made him model his life after De Wiart. This would account for the extreme risks Loyd takes. The great-grandfather was not only one of the most decorated British soldiers, he was also one of the most wounded (eleven times), losing an eye and a hand. He was admired by figures as diverse as Winston Churchill, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and Marshall Josef Pilsudski. He was also the model for Brigadier Ben Ritchie-Hook in Evelyn Waugh's Sword of Honour Trilogy. The Right Honourable Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG , OM , CH , FRS , PC (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, best known as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. ... Chiang Kai-shek (October 31, 1887–April 5, 1975) was a Chinese military and political leader who assumed the leadership of the Kuomintang (KMT) after the death of Sun Yat-sen in 1925. ... The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... Lieutenant General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart VC, KBE, CB, CMG, DSO, (May 5, 1880 - June 5, 1963), was a British officer of Belgian and Irish descent. ... Evelyn Waugh, as photographed in 1940 by Carl Van Vechten Evelyn Arthur St. ... The Sword of Honour trilogy by Evelyn Waugh is his look at the Second World War. ...

It is interesting that both great-grandfather and great-grandson served in the British Army, but had little patience for peacetime routines, and both married into the landed aristocracy. It is still more interesting that Loyd refers to Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart as his grandfather in several articles, whereas Carton de Wiart is actually his maternal great-grandfather. The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ... Lieutenant General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart VC, KBE, CB, CMG, DSO, (May 5, 1880 - June 5, 1963), was a British officer of Belgian and Irish descent. ...

Loyd was born too late to recreate the life of his great-grandfather.

Marriage and connexions

Anthony Loyd married Lady Sophia Hamilton, daughter of the 5th Duke of Abercorn in 2002 at Baron's Court, the Duke's 5,500 acre (22 km²) ancestral estate in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. They were divorced in 2005. Reports indicate that the divorce was amicable, occasioned by Loyd's frequent absences reporting on wars. There were no children of the marriage. James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Abercorn (born 4 July 1934) is a Northern Irish peer and politician, and currently Lord Steward of the Household. ... Barons Court Tube Station Barons Court is a station on the Piccadilly and District lines of the London Underground in England. ... This article is about County Tyrone. ... Royal motto: Quis separabit (Latin: Who will separate?) Northern Irelands location within the UK Official languages English, Irish, Ulster Scots Capital and largest city Belfast First Minister Office suspended Area  - Total Ranked 4th 13,843 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 4th 1,685,267 122/km² NUTS 1...

Sources

The marriage and divorce of Anthony Loyd were reported on the Usenet group alt.talk.royalty from British newspaper accounts. The ancestry of Anthony Loyd vis-a-vis Adrian Carton de Wiart was also discussed on that group.