And beneath the robes was his splendid and impeccably tailored Earl Marshal’s uniform.Much of his time as Earl Marshal was consumed in supervising the College of Arms. For nearly 500 years successive Earl Marshals have had the oversight of the Officers of Arms. It is a curious role, reflecting the curious nature of the college itself, the heraldic profession being an unusual combination of official position and private enterprise. The Earl Marshal has no physical office at the College of Arms, but he has to sign an authorising document for every new grant of arms Corporate college expenditure has to be approved by him.

He alone can recommend individuals to the Sovereign for appointment as heralds. That such an ancient system of patronage should remain in the hands of a hereditary official is itself remarkable. And this part of the Earl Marshal’s task does require a high degree of judgement. In the general running of the college, how far should he interfere, how far keep his distance?Duke Bernard, though punctilious in the performance of his duties, had been a remote figure who rarely visited the college. Miles Norfolk was much more hands-on, making frequent appearances at functions and meetings of one kind and another. And the heralds have much to thank him for, not least his spearheading of two major appeals, one for the restoration of the college’s handsome 17th-century building in 1982-83, the other for a new roof in 1998.

He also dealt wisely and tactfully with a number of personnel problems in the early 1990s, and more than one awkward situation was resolved by the careful exercise of his authority.In the wider world, he tended (like his predecessor) to be seen as the leading Catholic layman, although if asked about it he would usually reply (modestly but impishly), “Oh no, that’s Lord Longford.” In truth it was a role that seemed to come naturally to him. He represented the Queen at the funeral of Pope Paul VI in 1978 – and he was given the task of officially welcoming John Paul II when he visited Britain in 1982. “Being a Catholic Earl Marshal,” he said shortly afterwards, “is perfectly easy now that we are all so ecumenical and love each other. I am terribly ecumenical myself.”In 1984 he caused a minor furore when he told the Catholic Teachers’ Federation that the 1968 papal encyclical Humanae Vitae, which had branded contraception as intrinsically evil, was “nonsense”. He had not expected his remarks to be reported and he regretted any embarrassment he might have caused Cardinal Basil Hume, but on the issue itself he was unrepentant. Later that year, some of the more reactionary members of the Catholic Union tried to unseat him from the presidency of that body, but he was duly re-elected.On other moral matters he was more orthodoxly conservative – opposing the relaxation of abortion laws, for instance, and actively supporting Baroness Young in her attempts to prevent the lowering of the age of homosexual consent.He was not afraid of controversy and, when seriously concerned about something, he was quite prepared to express himself in forthright terms. In 1989, in a letter to The Times, he denounced Neil Kinnock for describing Margaret Thatcher as “the immaculate misconception”, a remark he considered not only “profoundly offensive” but “verging on blasphemy”.

This was arguably something of an over-reaction.Not surprisingly, he took the Conservative whip in the Lords and spoke frequently on matters of family, marriage and education. In 1980 he led a successful Lords revolt against plans to impose charges for transport to schools in rural areas. His own concern was with the needs of Catholic schools, but the issue went much wider, and he and other Conservatives joined with Labour peers in defeating the Government.At the end of his life, he found himself one of the only two peers to retain their seats in Parliament solely by birthright. In the compromise that produced the first stage of House of Lords reform, it was agreed that the Earl Marshal and the Lord Great Chamberlain could continue as members of the House without submitting themselves to the indignity of election by their peers.Outside Parliament he lent his support to countless bodies ranging from the British Commonwealth Ex-Services League to Help the Aged. He served for a while as President of the Building Societies Association, seeing the post as a way of demonstrating his strong belief in family life.