About Michael Boyce, Baron Boyce
Admiral of the Fleet Michael Cecil Boyce, Baron Boyce (2 April 1943 – 6 November 2022) was a British Royal Navy officer who also sat as a crossbench member of the House of Lords until his death in November 2022. Boyce commanded three submarines and then a frigate before achieving higher command in the Navy and serving as First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff from 1998 to 2001 and then as Chief of the Defence Staff from 2001 to 2003. As Chief of Defence Staff he is believed to have had concerns about US plans for a national missile defence system. In early 2003 he advised the British Government on the deployment of troops for the invasion of Iraq, seeking assurances as to the legitimacy of the deployment before it was allowed to proceed. == Early life == Michael Cecil Boyce, the first son of Commander Hugh Boyce DSC and his Afrikaner wife, Madeline (née Manley), was born in Cape Town on 2 April 1943. His two brothers were Philip Boyce, a professor of psychiatry in Australia, and Graham Boyce, a diplomat. == Naval career == Boyce was educated at Hurstpierpoint College and the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. He joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1961 and, having trained as a submariner, was confirmed in the rank of sub-lieutenant on 10 December 1965, promoted to lieutenant on 30 August 1966, and saw service in the submarines HMS Anchorite, HMS Valiant and HMS Conqueror. He completed the Submarine Command Course in 1973, became commanding officer of the submarine HMS Oberon in the same year and, having been promoted to lieutenant commander on 8 January 1974, was given command of the submarine HMS Opossum later that year. Promoted to the rank of commander on 30 June 1976, Boyce became commanding officer of the submarine HMS Superb in 1979.
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