Captain The Honourable Sir Seymour John Fortescue GCVO, CMG (1856-1942) was a British naval officer and courtier who was an Equerry to the British sovereign and Serjeant-at-Arms in the House of Lords. His immediate family were well-connected in the military and also extensive landowners with property in Ireland, Devon, Gloucester and Lincolnshire. As a child he lived in Madeira for two years where Captain Henry Keppel (later Admiral of the Fleet) invited him on board his frigate Forte, a visit he remembers fondly in this memoir, and while at school he determined to go into the Navy. This he did in 1869, training as a Royal Navy cadet and graduating first class. A year later he was made midshipman and in 1871 joined HMS Bristol, travelling widely, and in the following years was assigned to several other ships. In 1878 he was promoted to Lieutenant, and after serving in the bombardment of Alexandria in 1882, in the Egyptian War and in Eastern Sudan, was promoted to the rank of Commander in 1890. In 1901 he retired from the Navy with the rank of Captain. In 1893 he was appointed an equerry in waiting to the Prince of Wales and remained in that post after the Prince became King Edward VII, serving throughout his reign. After the King's death in 1910, his successor George V appointed him an Extra Equerry to the King, a position renewed by Edward VIII and George VI in 1937. From 1910-36 he also served as Serjeant-at-Arms to the House of Lords. His long service to the Royal Household was rewarded with several honours. This memoir, dedicated to Edward VII's widow Queen Alexandra, was first published in 1920 and is illustrated with photographs.