Editing Nicholas Soames (section)

==Early life, education and military service==
Soames was born in 1948 in [[Croydon]], [[Surrey]], the eldest son of Sir [[Christopher Soames]] and Dame [[Mary Soames|Mary (née Spencer-Churchill) Soames]]. He is a grandson of the former British [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] [[Winston Churchill]], and a grandnephew of [[Lady Baden-Powell]], World Chief Guide, the wife of the founder of the [[Scout movement]], [[Lord  Baden-Powell]].  Industrialist [[Rupert Soames]] is Soames's brother, and journalist [[Emma Soames]] is a sister.

[[Simon Hoggart]], writing in ''[[The Guardian]]'', related an anecdote of Soames' childhood: "He gave me the true version of what I had always suspected was an apocryphal story. In or around 1953, when Soames was five, he didn't know how important his grandfather was until someone told him. So he walked up to the old man's bedroom, managed to get past the valets and the secretaries, and found him sitting up in bed.
'Is it true, grandpapa, that you are the greatest man in the world?' he asked.
'Yes, I am,' said Churchill. 'Now bugger off.'"<ref>{{cite news |last=Hoggart |first=Simon |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/jun/04/election2001.politicalcolumnists |title=Hats off to Soames, Off Message but on Majestic Form |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=4 June 2001}}</ref>

After attending [[St. Aubyns Preparatory School]] in Sussex, Soames received his [[secondary education]] at [[Eton College]]. Later he studied at [[Mons Officer Cadet School]] before being commissioned into the [[11th Hussars]] on 5 August 1967 on a Short Service Commission before serving in [[West Germany]] and Britain with the 11th Hussars and later the [[Royal Hussars]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=44430 |date=17 October 1967 |page=11267 |supp=y}}</ref> Soames was transferred to [[Regular Army Reserve of Officers]] on 9 March 1970 before resigning his commission on 5 August 1975.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=45055 |date=6 March 1970 |page=2846 |supp=y}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=46651 |date=5 August 1975 |page=9952 |supp=y}}</ref>