Henry Abel Smith should not be confused with Abel Henry Smith.
| Honorific-Prefix: | Colonel The Honourable |
| Sir Henry Abel Smith | |
| Order: | 17th |
| Office: | Governor of Queensland |
| Term Start: | 18 March 1958 |
| Term End: | 18 March 1966 |
| Premier: | Sir Frank Nicklin |
| Predecessor: | Sir John Lavarack |
| Successor: | Sir Alan Mansfield |
| Birth Date: | 8 March 1900 |
| Birth Place: | St George Hanover Square, London, England |
| Death Place: | Barton Lodge, Winkfield, Berkshire, England |
| Resting Place: | Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore |
| Children: | Anne Abel Smith Richard Abel Smith Elizabeth Wise |
| Nationality: | British |
| Allegiance: | United Kingdom |
| Branch: | British Army |
| Serviceyears: | 1919–1950 |
| Servicenumber: | 18050 |
| Rank: | Colonel |
| Unit: | Royal Horse Guards |
| Commands: | 2nd Household Cavalry Regiment |
| Battles: | Second World War |
| Mawards: | Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Distinguished Service Order |
Colonel Sir Henry Abel Smith, (8 March 1900 – 24 January 1993) was a British Army officer who served as Governor of Queensland, Australia. He married Lady May Cambridge, a niece of Queen Mary, consort of King George V.
Abel Smith was born in London on 8 March 1900, the eldest son of Lieutenant Colonel Francis Abel Smith (1861–1908) of Wilford House, Nottinghamshire,[1] and of Coleorton Hall, Leicestershire,[1] and of Selsdon Park, a descendant of the prominent banking Smith family founded by Abel Smith (1717–1788), by his wife Madeline S Maur Seymour (1862–1951), a descendant of Edward Seymour, 8th Duke of Somerset.
His grandparents were Henry Abel Smith (1826–1890) and Elizabeth Mary Pym (1826–1877), a daughter of Francis Pym (1790–1860) and Lady Lucy Leslie-Meville (1796–1848), a daughter of Alexander Leslie-Melville, 9th Earl of Leven. His younger brother was Brigadier Sir Alexander Abel Smith (1904–1980), whose second wife was Henriette Alice Cadogan (d.2005), a descendant of the 4th Earl Cadogan, who between 1949 and 1987 served as a lady-in-waiting to Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II).[2]
Abel Smith attended Eton College[1] and subsequently the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, where on 17 December 1919 he was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Royal Horse Guards. Promoted on 17 December 1921 to lieutenant, between 1928 and 1930[1] he served as aide-de-camp (ADC) to Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone, whose daughter he later married. He was promoted to captain on 1 February 1930 and major on 26 June 1934.[1]
Abel Smith served in the Second World War, where from 1941 to 1945 he commanded the 2nd Household Cavalry Regiment, leading it throughout the entire North West Europe Campaign from June 1944 shortly after D-Day to Victory in Europe Day in May 1945. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in February 1945. In 1944 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and in 1946 colonel.[1] He retired as a colonel in 1950. In 1953 he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Berkshire.[1] On 18 March 1958 Abel Smith was appointed Governor of Queensland in Australia and served in that office until 18 March 1966.
On 24 October 1931, at St Mary's Church, Balcombe, Sussex, Abel Smith married Lady May Cambridge, the only surviving child of his former commander, Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone. She was born Princess May of Teck, and was a niece of King George V and Queen Mary, and a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria. By his wife he had three children:
Abel Smith died at home at Barton Lodge, Winkfield, Berkshire, on 24 January 1993 aged 92, just weeks away from his 93rd birthday. His funeral service took place at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. His cremated remains were buried at the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore.[7] His wife survived him by sixteen months.