Name Michael Baron Nationality British | ||
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Alma mater | ||
Succeeded by Sir Martin Charteris | ||
Michael Edward Adeane, Baron Adeane, (30 September 1910 – 30 April 1984) was Private Secretary to Elizabeth II during the first twenty years of her reign.
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Early life and education
Adeane was a maternal grandson of Lord Stamfordham, Private Secretary to Queen Victoria and George V. He was educated at Eton and graduated from Magdalene College, Cambridge in 1934 with a Master of Arts degree.
Career
Adeane then travelled to Canada and was aide-de-camp to Lord Bessborough from 1934 to 1934 and then to his successor, Lord Tweedsmuir until 1936.
Adeane then returned to England and became George VI's Assistant Private Secretary from 1945 after five and a half years on active military duty, a post he held until the latter's death in 1952. He continued in that post for Queen Elizabeth until 1953 when he was promoted to Private Secretary and admitted to the Privy Council.
In 1961, during a Royal visit to Nepal, Adeane was credited with a share of a tiger kill with Sir Christopher Bonham-Carter in a royal tiger hunt. The tiger shooting role had fallen to him after the Queen had declined, the Duke of Edinburgh had been unable to shoot due to having his trigger finger in a splint and the then Foreign Secretary Alec Douglas-Home had missed twice.
Personal life
Adeane's wife died in 1994.
Adeane's son, the Hon. Edward Adeane, a noted barrister, was Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales 1979–1985.
Honours
Adeane was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO) in 1946, a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1947, he was promoted to Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO) in 1951, and Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in 1955. In 1962 he was promoted to Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) and in 1968 to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB).
In 1959, Adeane received the Grand Decoration in Gold with Sash for Services to the Republic of Austria and on 20 April 1972, he was created a life peer as Baron Adeane, of Stamfordham in the County of Northumberland.