Perhaps deliberately, Desmond Langley gave a misleading impression on first meeting. Large, strong-voiced and almost invariably good-humoured, he could appear resolutely detached from whatever was the business in hand, but this disguised a shrewd intelligence and caring nature.

Meticulous organisation was his strongest suit. Uninhibited by a minor stammer, he would deploy it to good effect to extend the pause before a punch-line, or keep a more senior officer waiting in some exasperation for an answer he wished to have a little longer to think about.

He was commissioned into the Life Guards in 1949, and except for a period on the staff of the 10th Armoured Division in Libya in the reign of King Idris, his early service was with his regiment in Egypt and in the rarefied atmosphere of the Household Division in London.

After attending the Staff College he went to Singapore in 1962 to join headquarters Far East Command as it turned from its primary function of planning the containment of communist expansion in South-East Asia to grappling with an unexpected conflict.

The politically suicidal policy of President Sukarno of Indonesia to confront the new Federation of Malaysia, largely manifested by armed cross-border raids into East Malaysia (formerly Sarawak and British North Borneo) took the world by surprise. It also plunged Langley into the deep end of operational staff work as the Commonwealth military contribution to Malaysia’s defence rose to divisional strength, with supporting naval and air force elements. He and a handful of others in the headquarters took on the day-to-day supervision of support for operations, while their superiors argued with London for the resources to conduct an unwelcome but ultimately successful campaign.

Ministers and Whitehall warriors streamed out to Singapore, hoping to convince those on the spot that the situation was less serious than reported, usually to return to London with lists of extra units or resources required. They were briefed by Langley in the Phoenix Park map room, where he came to be known as a master of the facts and nature of the threat, even if he might tease questioners a little with his stammer before delivering a straight, often monosyllabic, answer.

Although it was not his Far East experience that set Langley on the escalator to senior rank, as he was already well regarded within the Household Division, it established his name more widely. On return to London he became Brigade Major Household Division, responsible for the co-ordination of the relentless round of London military ceremonial. He was appointed MBE in 1967 before taking command of the Life Guards in 1969. He proved a popular yet exacting colonel of a regiment where standards are everything.

After a few months with the Chiefs of Staff Secretariat in the MoD, he was promoted to command both Household Cavalry regiments with the title of Silver Stick-in-Waiting. In this appointment, astride his charger on Horse Guards Parade and fully accoutred, he used a radio broadcast from a microphone concealed in his breastplate to deliver an address of thanks to the Queen for presenting a new guidon to the Blues and Royals.

A change of scene followed his assignment to a brigade command in Germany in 1976. His arrival in post narrowly preceded implementation of the 1976 Defence Review that inter alia removed the brigade level of command in BAOR. The deficiencies of this measure were perhaps unconsciously expressed by Langley in welcoming some journalists. “Last week,” he began, “I would have introduced myself as Commander 4th Guards Armoured Brigade. Today, I am simply commander Task Force Charlie.”

Henry Desmond Allen Langley was educated at Eton and Sandhurst. After his brigade command, he attended the Royal College of Defence Studies in London in 1978 and was promoted to become GOC London District and Major-General Commanding the Household Division a year later — a post to which he was ideally suited. Proud of the Guards traditions of excellence, he was never blind to assumptions of perfection. The military ceremonial attendant on the wedding of the Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981 permitted no shortcomings and Langley spared no attention to detail. He was appointed KCVO in 1983.

He became Commander British Forces and Administrator of the Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus that year. With a smart house overlooking the Mediterranean, this was a well-found post but no sinecure. Discipline of the garrison and units visiting for training needed constant attention, as did relations with the Greek-Cypriot Government, anxious to maintain the revenue brought in by the SBAs but conscious of the lingering resentment they fostered in some Cypriot factions.

On leaving Cyprus and the Army in 1986, he became Governor of the Church Lads’ and Church Girls’ Brigade. He might not have concerned himself with other issues but for his appointment as Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Bermuda in 1988.

It appears he had impressed Margaret Thatcher with his diplomatic skills in handling British and foreign dignitaries and the press during the royal wedding. In Bermuda the Governor was responsible for internal security, as well as external affairs and defence. Moreover, the island offered an ideal venue for international conferences. During Langley’s term the summit meeting between President George Bush Sr and Mrs Thatcher to discuss Nato’s future was held in Bermuda in April 1990 and another between the President and John Major in 1991.

Langley was married to Felicity (Flick) Oliphant in 1950. She survives him with a son and daughter.

Major-General Sir Desmond Langley, KCVO, MBE, Governor and Commander-in-Chief Bermuda, 1988-92, was born on May 16, 1930. He died on February 14, 2008, aged 77