Desborough was appointed CVO in 1907 and advanced to KCVO in 1908 and GCVO (Knight Grand Cross) in 1925; and in 1928 he was admitted as a Knight of the Order of the Garter. He was a Major of the 1st Battalion, Buckinghamshire Rifle Volunteers from February 1900. In November 1914, he was appointed President of the Central Association of Volunteer Training Corps, a voluntary home defence militia, until it was disbanded in 1920. From 1924 to 1929 he was Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard. Between 1919 and 1929 he was chairman of the Pilgrims of Great Britain. He planned and oversaw the construction of the Desborough Cut, a navigation channel between nearby stretches of the Thames at Walton-on-Thames and Weybridge, which was opened in 1935. The large island created thereby was named Desborough Island.