During the Second World War, Coke served in the Royal Air Force. In the late 1950s, he became a Land Development Officer (L.D.O.) in Rhodesia, attached to what was then known as the Native Affairs Department (later renamed the Internal Affairs Department). He and his wife, Vera, were based in the Mondoro Reserve near Hartley, where he was responsible for educating and assisting African farmers.
In 1976 he succeeded his first cousin Thomas as 6th Earl of Leicester, inheriting a substantial estate based on Holkham Hall in Norfolk, but remained living in South Africa, as his eldest son had already taken over the management of the estate.
Marriages and children
Leicester was married firstly on 11 September 1934 to Moyra Joan Crossley, daughter of Douglas Crossley. They had two sons and one daughter together:
They were divorced in 1947 in which year Leicester married Vera Haigh in Southern Rhodesia. She died in 1984 and Leicester married thirdly in 1985, Elizabeth Hope Johnstone, daughter of Clifford Arthur Johnstone, of Addo, Eastern Province, South Africa.
Leicester died on 12 August 1994 at age 84 in South Africa. He was succeeded in the earldom and other titles by his son Edward Coke, 7th Earl of Leicester.