George Lascelles, the seventh Earl of Harewood, a member of the British royal family who was an internationally recognized writer on opera, died on July 11 at Harewood House, his family’s home near Leeds. He was 88. George Henry Hubert Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood, KBE AM (7 February 1923 – 11 July 2011), styled The Hon. George Lascelles before 1929 and Viscount Lascelles between 1929 and 1947, was the elder son of the 6th Earl of Harewood (1882–1947), and Princess Mary, Princess Royal, the only daughter of King George V of the United Kingdom and Queen Mary. He had a younger brother, The Honourable Gerald Lascelles. Lord Harewood was the eldest nephew of King George VI and was a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. He succeeded to his father's earldom on 23 May 1947. A music enthusiast, Lord Harewood devoted most of his career to opera. He served as editor of Opera magazine from 1950 to 1953 and as director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden from 1951 to 1953 and again from 1969 to 1972. He served as chairman of the board of the English National Opera (ENO) from 1986 to 1995; Managing Director of the ENO from 1972 to 1985; artistic director of the Edinburgh, Adelaide and Leeds Festivals; Managing Director of the ENO offshoot English National Opera North from 1978 to 1981. Lord Harewood served as a governor of the BBC from 1985 to 1987 and as the president of the British Board of Film Classification from 1985 to 1996. He was the author or editor of three books, Kobbé's Complete Opera Book (ed. 1954, now The New Kobbé's Opera Book, edited with Antony Peattie, latest ed. 1997), The Tongs and the Bones (an autobiography, 1981), and Kobbé's Illustrated Opera Book (ed. 1989).
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