Anthony Loyd

While reporting in Northern Syria (2014), he was shot twice in the leg by Syrian rebels to stop him running away.

Loyd grew up in Churt on the Hampshire–Surrey border and attended St Edmund’s School, Hindhead, Eton College, and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

He published a second volume of autobiography, Another Bloody Love Letter, in 2007. It covered his experiences in the former Yugoslavia, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Among the wars he reported were the conflicts in Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and Iraq. Loyd was noted for the risks he took in pursuing his stories. His most recent bylines (as of 15 September 2005) have been from Baghdad, where he has been out on patrol with both the American and Iraqi forces.

Loyd married Lady Sophia Hamilton, daughter of 5th Duke of Abercorn in 2002 at Baronscourt, the Duke’s 5,500 acre (22 km²) ancestral estate, near Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. They were divorced in 2005, on an amicable basis, occasioned by Loyd’s frequent absences reporting on wars. He remarried again in 2007 and is now based in Devon with his wife, daughter and stepdaughter.

Anthony William Vivian Loyd (born 12 September 1966) is an English journalist and noted war correspondent. He gained notoriety in February 2019 when he tracked down a British ISIL bride, Shamima Begum.

His maternal great-grandfather was Lieutenant General Sir Adrian Carton De Wiart VC, KBE, CB, CMG, DSO (1880–1963). His great-grandfather was not only a highly decorated British soldier, he was also one of the most wounded (eleven times, which included the loss of an eye and a hand).