From Sandhurst, Prior-Palmer was in August 1923 commissioned as a second lieutenant into the 9th Lancers, in which his elder brother Otho Prior-Palmer was already serving.[3] He was promoted captain in 1930, lieutenant colonel in 1941, colonel in 1946, and brigadier in 1948. In 1940 he saw active service in North West Europe, where he was mentioned in despatches, and in 1944 took part in the Normandy landings as commander of the 27th Armoured Brigade, serving on the continent until 1945. In 1946 he went to Washington, D.C., as military attaché at the British Embassy, a two-year posting. In 1951 he was promoted major general and given command of the newly reformed 6th Armoured Division. In 1953 he returned to Washington, D.C., as Commander, British Army Staff, and Military Member, British Joint Services Mission, this time remaining for three years. He was President of the Regular Commissions Board from 1956 to 1957 and retired from the service in 1958.[1]
Prior-Palmer was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, French Legion of Honour and Belgian Croix de Guerre in 1945, and appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1952.[1]
- President, Wessex Rehabilitation Association, 1962–1977[1]
- Patron, League of Venturers, 1972–1977[1]
In 1935, Prior-Palmer married Katherine Edith, daughter of Frank Bibby, and with her had one daughter, Anne. In 1948, he married Lady Doreen Hersey Winifred Hope, the younger daughter of Victor Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow, and they had one son, Simon Erroll, and one daughter, Lucinda Jane.[1][2][4]
Prior-Palmer was a member of the Cavalry and Guards Club and the Royal Ocean Racing Club and in retirement lived at Appleshaw House, Andover, Hampshire. He died on 18 August 1977.[1]
Peter Beauclerk Dewar, ed., Burke's Landed Gentry of Great Britain (2001), p. 682
Debrett's peerage, baronetage, knightage, and companionage (Kelly's Directories, 1963), p. 748
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