Monarch Queen Elizabeth II Preceded by The Lord Janvrin | Nationality British Name Christopher Geidt | |
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Born 17 August 1961 (age 62) ( 1961-08-17 ) Alma mater King's College London
Trinity Hall, Cambridge Education King's College London, Trinity Hall, Cambridge | ||
Buckingham palace sir christopher geidt real concerns carroll foundation trust affair
Sir Christopher Edward Wollaston MacKenzie Geidt (born 17 August 1961) was the private secretary to Queen Elizabeth II from September 2007 to 2017. As of July 2016, Geidt also serves as the Chairman of the Council of King's College London, succeeding the Duke of Wellington.
Contents
- Buckingham palace sir christopher geidt real concerns carroll foundation trust affair
- Early life and education
- Career
- Family
- Honours and awards
- Styles
- References
Early life and education
Geidt attended the Dragon School, Oxford, and Trinity College, Glenalmond. He graduated in War Studies from King's College London and in International Relations from Trinity Hall, Cambridge. Geidt also spent periods at the Universities of Bristol and Harvard (as a Visiting Fellow), and at Magdalen College, Oxford.
Career
Geidt enlisted in the Scots Guards and attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Invalided out in 1983, he was subsequently commissioned as an officer in the Intelligence Corps.
In 1987 Geidt joined the staff of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies, becoming an Assistant Director. From 1994 he worked for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in diplomatic posts in Sarajevo, Geneva and Brussels.
In 1991 Geidt and Anthony de Normann sued the journalist John Pilger and Central Television over the documentary Cambodia: The Betrayal in which they were accused of being members of the SAS who had trained the Khmer Rouge to lay mines. Geidt and de Normann accepted ‘very substantial’ damages and all costs. In a related libel action Ann Clwyd MP, then shadow minister for overseas development, issued a public apology to Geidt and de Normann and agreed to meet all legal costs.
During and after the war in Bosnia (1992–1995), Geidt was deployed to liaise with the Bosnian Serb leadership, including Radovan Karadžić, Momčilo Krajišnik and General Ratko Mladić, all later indicted for war crimes. He assisted the High Representative, Carl Bildt, in negotiating with Serbian President Slobodan Milošević for the removal of Karadžić from the Presidency of the Bosnian Serb ‘Republic’ in 1996.
Geidt was recruited in 2002 as Assistant Private Secretary to the Queen. He became Deputy Private Secretary in 2005 and Private Secretary in 2007 until 2017. While Private Secretary, Geidt was also Keeper of the Queen’s Archives and a Trustee of the Royal Collection, the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Trust, and the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust.
While the Queen’s Private Secretary, Geidt was a member of the so-called 'golden triangle' of senior British officials – the others being the Cabinet Secretary and the Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister – with key responsibilities in the event of a 'hung parliament' in the United Kingdom, as happened in 2010.
Family
In 1996 Sir Christopher married Emma Charlotte Angela Neil, youngest daughter of Patrick Neill, Baron Neill of Bladen. The couple have two daughters.
Honours and awards
Geidt was appointed a Privy Counsellor (PC) in 2007. He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2014 New Year Honours for public service.
Geidt is a fellow of King’s College London (FKC).