Main pictures by Amy Martin


Personality Profile He might be a Lord,


a Knight and an Admiral... but you can call him Mike


Lord Michael Boyce once commanded the armed forces in a glittering career spanning five decades before accepting the role of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, whose previous incumbents include Sir Winston Churchill and the Duke of Wellington. Simon Finlay met him at home at Walmer Castle…


warm late spring sun stretches across the gardens at Walmer Castle and the present Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports nods to staff. Moments earlier, Lord Michael Boyce had been mulling


A


over the kind of question perhaps only a former Admiral of the Fleet and Chief of the Defence Staff is qualified for. Te conundrum: “Who really was the greatest – the Duke of Wellington or Lord Nelson?”


“You know, Wellington really was a great man, but Nelson was my hero. Obviously,” he says with a smirk as we pass through a creaking corridor onto a gun emplacement where huge black cannons squat.


Te Iron Duke spent his final years at Walmer as Lord Warden, sleeping on his simple batlefield camp bed. Te room where he died stays, more or less, as it was leſt. But today’s incumbent, a former high-ranking submariner, looks to the swashbuckling, sometimes unconventional, Horatio Nelson for his inspiration. It is highly likely, had Nelson not died at the Batle of Trafalgar, that he would also have been bestowed the great title of Lord Warden.


Lord Michael Boyce has been in the ceremonial role, officially, for 13 years and it is one he is fiercely proud of and happy to continue with.


Mid Kent Living 7


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