Aubrey Herbert

Aubrey Nigel Henry Molyneux Herbert (1880 – 26 September 1923) was a British diplomat, traveller, and intelligence officer associated with Albanian independence. Twice he was offered the throne of Albania. From 1911 until his death he was a Conservative Member of Parliament.

Aubrey Herbert was born the second son of Henry Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon, a wealthy landowner, British cabinet minister, and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and his second wife, Elizabeth Howard of Greystoke Castle, Cumberland, sister of Esme Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Penrith. He was a half-brother to George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, a noted Egyptologist who co-discovered King Tutankhamen's tomb with Howard Carter. He was afflicted with eye problems that left him nearly blind from early childhood, losing all his sight toward the end of his life.

Herbert was educated at Eton College. He obtained a first class degree in modern history from Balliol College, Oxford University. He was famous for climbing the roofs of the university buildings, despite his near blindness. He numbered among his friends Adrian Carton De Wiart, Raymond Asquith, John Buchan, and Hilaire Belloc. Reginald Farrer remained close throughout his life. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Nottinghamshire (Sherwood Rangers) Yeomanry Cavalry on 12 January 1900, and promoted to lieutenant on 11 June 1902.

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