Early Life
De Wiart was born into an aristocratic family in Brussels, on 5 May 1880, eldest son of Leon Constant Ghislain Carton de Wiart (1854–1915). By his contemporaries, he was widely believed to be an illegitimate son of the King of the Belgians, Leopold II. He spent his early days in Belgium and in England. The death of his Irish mother when he was six prompted his father to move the family to Cairo so his father could practice international law. His father was a court magistrate, well connected in Egyptian governmental circles, and was a director of the Cairo Electric Railways. De Wiart was a Roman Catholic. He learned to speak Arabic.
In 1891 his English stepmother sent him to a boarding school in England, the Roman Catholic Oratory School, founded by Cardinal John Henry Newman.
From there he went to Balliol College, Oxford, but left to join the British Army at the time of the Boer War around 1899, where he entered under the false name of "Trooper Carton", and said to be 25 years old.
He was wounded in the stomach and groin in South Africa early on in the War and invalided home, and his father found out about him leaving college. He was furious but let him to stay in the army. After another brief period at Oxford, where Aubrey Herbert was among his friends, he was given a commission in the Second Imperial Light Horse. He saw action in South Africa again and on 14 September 1901 was given a regular commission as a second lieutenant in the 4th Dragoon Guards. De Wiart was transferred to India in 1902. He enjoyed sports, especially shooting and pig sticking.
Read more about this topic: Adrian Carton De Wiart
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