Quote Originally Posted by hrvojej
To my understanding, this happens when he wasn't leading the battle in which he died, i.e. when there was another higher-ranking general present.

On a side note, it would seem that people tend to live longer post-patch as well. Before I think the oldest I got weas in mid 60s, and now I have an 86yo grampa running around with his great-grandchildren.
This is exactly correct. I had two generals die in one battle recently and the one leading it got the 'died in battle' remark while the other had a 'died peacefully' remark.

I'll give it to CA, they did try to make the family tree a little more interesting with the death descriptions, but they messed that up too.