A natural leader and a Highlander, he learned to speak Gaelic before English. In 1898, then Marquess of Tullisbardine, he served in Kitchener's expedition to the Sudan. He fought at the Battle of Khartoum and in the Boer War, always being mentioned in despatches. He was decorated twice, with the D.S.O. and the M.V.O., in the Boer War when he raised three regiments of Scottish Horse. In 1914 he commanded a brigade of Highland yeomanry regiments, also known as the Scottish Horse, which he raised and equipped, and took them to fight dismounted in the Dardanelles campaign.

In 1917 he succeeded his father and became the 8th Duke of Atholl. In 1920 he went with his wife for a holiday to Florence. Where they met an Albanian delegation in search of a Western ruler. Who, impressed with his personality, considered offering him their crown. Aubrey Herbert, who had enthusiastically worked for an independent Albania and who had himself refused their throne, rather sourly told Harold Nicolson in 1921 that the offer was definitely going to be made. Nicolson advised that Lord Curzon, the Foreign Secretary, should first be consulted. He was, and the whole idea was laughed out of court although the Duke, according to his wife's record of their joint
lives, "Working Partnership" (1958), was rather taken with the idea.

He held many public appointments such as Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and, in 1921, became Lord Chamberlain of the Household. A fervent Scot, he helped establish a Scottish war memorial in Edinburgh after World War I. During World War II when he was seventy years old, he joined the Home Guard and took turns as sentry officer on duty in Whitehall. He worked for a number of charitable organizations although not always
understanding the intricate details of such things as lotteries, which once landed him in court. He sold cancelled sweepstake tickets at ten shillings a time without disclosing which charities the proceeds would benefit. It was called "The Duke of Atholl's Fund", but privately he called it "my bit of fun". However, the law did not find it fun and he was arrested for fraud and placed on trial.
 

Source: Leo van de Pas