Updated: LORD Harewood, cousin to the Queen and the first chancellor of the University of York, has died at the age of 88.

He passed away at the family home, Harewood House, near Leeds, yesterday morning.

Born George Henry Hubert Lascelles in 1923, Lord Harewood was the son of Princess Mary and Henry Lascelles, and is survived by his four sons.

After being educated at Eton and Cambridge, Lord Harewood was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards, and attained the rank of captain.

During the Second World War he served in Italy, and was captured and held as a prisoner of war in the infamous Colditz Castle between November 1944 and May 1945.

In April, Lord Harewood supported a campaign by Ye Fraternitie of Olde Selebians against renaming the Selby War Memorial Hospital, despite being in his eighties, as he felt strongly about the issue.

Lord Harewood served as the chancellor at University of York between 1962 and 1967, the president of the British Board of Film Classification between 1985 and 1996, and as a keen fan of opera and football, was due to celebrate his fiftieth year as president of Leeds United Football Club in September.

Ken Bates, chairman of the Championship club, told the team's website: “Although he was royalty, he always treated me as an equal and I feel like I have lost a true friend.”

A spokeswoman for Harewood House said it was Lord Harewood’s wish that the house and grounds would remain open to the public.

Books of condolence are to be opened for visitors in the house and All Saints’ Church, in the house grounds.

The spokeswoman also said a private funeral would be held for the family, and a celebration of Lord Harewood’s life would be held at a later date.

Prof Brian Cantor, the vice-chancellor of the University of York, was due to issue a statement later.