Admiral of the Fleet Lord Boyce died on Sunday November 6 aged 79.
In 2004 he was appointed to Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. Not surprisingly the headline in the paper was, “Admiral sails into Cinque Ports.” He was made Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter in 2011 and promoted to Admiral of the Fleet in 2014.
He was involved in over 60 charities having found saying no to be difficult. He was Chairman of the RNLI, which was very special to him.
Peter Adams, retired Lifeboat Operations Manager at RNLI Hastings commented:
“Admiral Boyce was a long-time supporter of Hastings Lifeboat Station. He thoroughly enjoyed a trip on our ‘Mersey’ class lifeboat in pretty challenging conditions. As Lord Warden of the Cinque ports, he granted RNLI Hastings the immense privilege of being allowed to fly the Cinque ports ensign on both our Mersey then Shannon all-weather lifeboats and our D class lifeboat.
“In his role as Chairman of the RNLI he attended the naming ceremony of ‘Richard and Caroline Colton’ our new Shannon class lifeboat on April 27, 2019 and spoke eloquently to bring the proceedings to a close.
“I was extremely lucky and privileged to meet Admiral of the Fleet Lord Boyce on several occasions. He immediately put you at ease and insisted that I called him Michael. He was a great friend to Hastings and the RNLI and will be missed by all that knew him.”
HM Lord-Lieutenant of East Sussex, Andrew Blackman said: “We were fortunate here in East Sussex to see Lord Boyce often in his role as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. His charm, warmth and deep sense of duty were clear to all who met him and made him enormously popular. He will be very much missed.”
Image Credits: t bruce .