BRUCE SHAND had a calmly philosophical approach to life, even when subjected to extremes of discomfort and danger during the Second World War, but the constant media attention and consequent stress on his family arising from the relationship between the Prince of Wales and his daughter, Camilla, tried his patience.

He was a man given to speaking his mind in a straightforward, albeit courteous, manner and there was a story circulated that he eventually suggested to the heir to the throne that the situation required some clarification, as his daughter’s position was being compromised.

This is not to suggest that he harboured any secret ambition for social aggrandisement. He was perfectly content with his station in life, and broad-minded enough, but he had an aversion to being pushed around, or seeing anyone he held dear being treated in a manner that might suggest such a thing.

There were occasions when Mrs Parker-Bowles, as she was at the time, was obliged to sit separately from the Prince and in a conspicuously less conspicuous position at events to which they had been invited together — or she was pointedly excluded. This moved him to quiet frustration. Once the Prince made his intentions clear to ministers and to the public, and he and Camilla were married, Shand was satisfied to settle back into his life in Dorset.

Commissioned into the 12th Royal Lancers from RMC Sandhurst in 1937, he showed marked military ability and personal gallantry in the early years of the war; but for an unlucky chance which led to his capture in the Western Desert in 1942, it is likely that he would have gained command of an armoured regiment well before the end of hostilities. He had the gift of developing good relationships with the NCOs and troopers of his squadron and won from them the accolade that he knew what to do when things looked bad as, of course, they all too frequently did in the early stages of the war.

The 12th Lancers were equipped with the modestly armed and lightly protected Morris armoured cars, scarcely combat vehicles in the modern sense but allocated to General Lord Gort’s GHQ of the British Expeditionary Force for purposes of reconnaissance and local protection. When von Rundstedt’s Army Group launched its offensive through Belgium on May 10, 1940, Shand’s vehicles were dive-bombed on three occasions by Junkers 87 “Stukas” as they drove down a long straight road in bright sunlight towards the BEF’s forward positions on the River Dyle. Although unscathed, he remarked afterwards that he had never enjoyed anything less in his life.

The story of the confusion on the roads as the BEF first advanced and then withdrew in Belgium in 1940 is well known. Shand must have caught the eye of Colonel (later General Sir) Herbert Lumsden as a brave and resourceful troop leader, as he got all the difficult jobs of defending access to bridges while they were prepared for demolition and watching over likely enemy lines of advance. As the general situation deteriorated with the separation of the British and French armies, the 12th Lancers were withdrawn to La Panne just north of Dunkirk, then ordered to march several miles down the beach for embarkation. He was awarded the Military Cross for his gallantry during the withdrawal.

On arrival in Egypt via the Cape in 1941, Shand’s regiment was quickly deployed into the desert, again to be subjected to strafing attacks by the Luftwaffe while patrolling between the opposing armies.

He took part in a number of desert engagements, eventually taking over command of a squadron and winning a Bar to his MC. Left in command of a small covering force near M’sus in May 1942, he found himself supporting the XIII Corps rearguard provided by a battalion of the 6th Rajputana Rifles when a large group of Afrika Korps tanks put in an unexpected appearance. He and the Rajputana Rifles fought a successful delaying action, escaping through the only gap in the encircling German armour.

After the breakthrough at El Alamein in October 1942, Shand’s squadron was ordered to Matruh on the coast to ensure it was clear of enemy. The place was approachable from the east only by descending a steep track down from the desert escarpment. While negotiating this, a large group of enemy came into view on the escarpment. Shand’s armoured car was set ablaze in the ensuing firefight, his two crew members killed and he was wounded in the face and knee and taken prisoner. (On her recent visit to the Middle East with her husband, the Duchess of Cornwall sought out the graves of her father’s two crew members to lay wreaths on his behalf.) Escape was out of the question, as the knee wound kept him off his feet. After hospital treatment in German-occupied Greece, he was evacuated to Germany and spent the rest of the war in Oflag IX A in Spangenburg Castle on the River Weser, where he worked on the dissemination of news received over a clandestine radio.

Bruce Middleton Hope Shand was the son of the writer and food and wine critic Philip Morton Shand, although he knew him little; his parents divorced when he was 3 and he was left to be brought up by his grandparents. He was educated at Rugby, an experience which left him without enthusiasm for the school. While in prison camp he had argued strongly against a proposal by other Rugbeians that a precious letter form (only two per month were permitted) should be used to send greetings and an assurance that they were well to the incumbent headmaster.

He left the Army shortly after release in 1945, declining an offer from General Sir Richard McCreery, late of his regiment, to join him in Vienna where he was the GOC as his Military Assistant, on grounds that his incarceration had left him out of touch with military affairs.

He dabbled in a number of careers, most significantly one with the prestigious West End wine merchants Block, Grey and Block. But it was in riding and the hunt that his real passion lay. He was variously joint and acting Master of the Southdown Fox Hounds 1956-75, Exon and later Adjutant and Clerk of the Cheque of the Queen’s Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard and a Deputy Lieutenant for Sussex.

He married Rosalind, daughter of the 3rd Baron Ashcombe, in 1946. She predeceased him. He is survived by a son and two daughters.

Major Bruce Shand, MC and Bar, soldier and Master of Fox Hounds, was born on January 22, 1917. He died on June 11, 2006, aged 89.