Sir Angus Ogilvy, who died aged 76 on 26 December, 2004, married into the royal circle when Princess Alexandra became his wife. But he was touched by scandal in the City in the 1970s and had to resign as director of Lonrho and 16 other city appointments.

In a scandal described by the then Prime Minister Ted Heath as the “unacceptable face of capitalism”, Ogilvy stood accused of involvement in breaching trade sanctions with Rhodesia .

He was found to have been negligent as a director by a Department of Trade report into the London and Rhodesia Mining and Land Company, and to have shown weakness in dealing with the management style of tycoon Tiny Rowland, who was chief executive.

A decade before he had married the Queen’s cousin, Princess Alexandra of Kent, the daughter of Prince George, Duke of Kent, and Princess Marina of Greece at Westminster Abbey in a wedding that caught the nation’s interest.

The Queen had offered him an earldom as a wedding present, which he declined, along with a grace-and-favour apartment at one of the royal palaces.

And then despite his disgrace in the City, in 1989, she offered him a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, an honour only the Queen can bestow, which signified he had been forgiven.

Angus James Bruce Ogilvy was born on September 14, 1928. He died on Boxing Day, 2004, after suffering with throat cancer, and was survived by his wife and two children, James and Marina.

He was the son of the 12 th Earl of Airlie and many of his relatives had close links with the royal family.

He went to school at Heatherdown Prep School , near Ascot and later studied at Eton .

His National Service saw him commissioned an officer in the Scots Guards from 1946 to 1948 and on his return he read Modern Greats at Trinity College , Oxford , graduating in 1950 with a degree in philosophy, politics and economics.

He was appointed a director of the Drayton Group in 1956, which brought him into contact with Tiny Rowland’s business centred on Rhodesia . He appointed Rowland to expand Lonrho ( London and Rhodesia Mining and Land Company) into an international conglomerate, with the financial backing of Drayton.

But a boardroom fall-out of the breaking of sanctions against British-held Rhodesia , and the damning Government report was published after the matter hit the courts.

Sir Angus himself was said to have seen the report as unfair but resigned his 16 city posts, as well as the Lonrho directorship. He had once held 50 directorships, mainly for Drayton-run companies.

His career in the City was over and he threw himself into charity work, as well as supporting his popular wife in her royal duties.

He was president of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, chairman of Youth Clubs UK, a patron of Arthritis Care and also involved with National Children’s Homes, the Prince’s Youth Business Trust, Leeds Castle Foundation, Business in the Community, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and the Carr-Gomm Society.