Anthony Raymond Layard died on 30th May 2026 aged 85. He was unable to fight back
from pneumonia following a pulmonary embolism. Raymond died peacefully. He left a loyal
partner of nearly 30 years, the American architect Ken Christian. A memorial event is
planned for later in the summer.

The son of a Royal Navy officer involved in convoy escort duties for much of World War II,
Raymond arrived at the Nautical College in Winter term 1954 from Emsworth House prep
school. At the NCP he was in Hesperus Division, eventually becoming Drum Major and then
Chief Cadet Captain of the College in the Summer term 1959. Deciding to join the Army, he
entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and was subsequently commissioned into the
4th /7th Royal Dragoon Guards in 1961.

In 2025 Raymond wrote a chapter about his life (on which this obituary is based) for a
Layard family history. In the Army he served initially in the British Army of the Rhine
(BAOR) in Germany as part of an armoured regiment equipped with Centurion tanks and
later helped with the regiment’s gunnery conversion from tanks to armoured cars. He then
spent a year in Oman and Aden, a spell in Northern Ireland and several years in staff jobs in
BAOR.

By the 1970s he had risen to the rank of Major, undertaken an emergency tour in Northern
Ireland during the Troubles and commanded a squadron of 15 Chieftain tanks. His memoir
continues: “In 1974 I was selected for the Army Staff College at Camberley where my
promising Army career abruptly ended. I was court martialled in January 1975 and dismissed
the service, having been found guilty of homosexual offences.” Homosexuality had been
decriminalised in England and Wales in 1967. But it was not until 2000 that the ban on LGBT
personnel serving in the UK Armed Forces was lifted.

Following the end of his military career Raymond had two marketing jobs with food
companies –one of which involved procuring snails from farms in Wales – before taking
graphic design and advertising roles in the theatrical world. In 1990 he became Administrator
of a Whitehall defence think-tank, the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). His final role
was as Clerk of the Worshipful Company of Horners in the City of London from 1998-2014.
In 2015 he was elected Master of this prestigious livery company.

(Anthony Layard with fellow OP Lord Mountevans)

From 1983 Raymond served as an Honorary Steward at Westminster Abbey “a marvellous
opportunity and a privilege which lasted for 37 years.” In this capacity he witnessed many
events of national significance including the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales and the
wedding of William and Catherine, the current Prince and Princess of Wales. In 2019 he was
presented to Queen Elizabeth II at a service at the Abbey to celebrate the 750th anniversary of
its rebuilding.

“Almost the last entry of note,” he wrote in the chapter about his life, “is that in 2025 my
1975 court martial sentence was disregarded, and my General Service Medal returned to me.
I also received letters from the Prime Minister and the Chief of the General Staff apologising
for my dismissal from the Army.” He added: “Although the figure is not of the same magnitude as a salary and pension might have been, I have (also) been awarded a lump sum in financial recognition of the unfairness of my dismissal, which is better than nothing!”