Monarch Queen Elizabeth II Name Robin Baron Nationality British | Preceded by Sir Robert Fellowes Role Baron Janvrin | |
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Born 20 September 1946 (age 77)
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire ( 1946-09-20 ) Spouse(s) Isabelle de Boissonneaux de Chevigny Alma mater Britannia Royal Naval College and Brasenose College, Oxford Education Britannia Royal Naval College, Marlborough College, Brasenose College, Oxford Similar People Roger Allam, Peter Morgan, Stephen Frears | ||
Succeeded by Sir Christopher Geidt | ||
Robin Berry Janvrin, Baron Janvrin (born 20 September 1946 in Cheltenham, England, UK) was the Private Secretary to Elizabeth II from February 1999 to September 2007.
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Early life
A native of Gloucestershire, Robin Berry Janvrin is the son of Vice-Admiral Sir Hugh Richard Benest Janvrin and Nancy Edyth Fielding. He was educated at Marlborough College, Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, and Brasenose College, Oxford from which he received a first class bachelor's degree in 1969, and of which he was made an Honorary Fellow in 1999. In 1962, he was selected to attend Camp Rising Sun in upstate New York.
Career
Janvrin entered the Royal Navy in 1964, was commissioned as an acting sub-lieutenant on 1 September 1966, promoted lieutenant on 4 March 1971, and served until 2 July 1975. He subsequently became a member of the Castaways' Club. On leaving the Navy, Janvrin joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He was a Second Secretary in 1975 and was appointed First Secretary at the mission to NATO in 1976. He was officially appointed an Officer of the Diplomatic Service on 7 February 1979. Janvrin was First Secretary in New Delhi from 1981 to 1984, during which time he was made a Member of the 4th Class of the Royal Victorian Order for services during the state visit by The Queen to India.
Janvrin was then Counsellor and Deputy Head of Department for the Personnel Department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 1985 to 1987.
On 1 June 1987 he was recruited as Press Secretary to The Queen, though it was initially thought that he would be appointed Assistant Press Secretary. On 19 October 1990 he became Assistant Private Secretary to The Queen, and in 1996 the Deputy Private Secretary. He was promoted to Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) in the 1994 New Year Honours, and Knight Commander (KCVO) in the 1998 New Year Honours, and was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 1997 New Year Honours. In February 1999 he succeeded Sir Robert Fellowes (later Lord Fellowes) as Private Secretary to the Queen. He was promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2003 New Year Honours.
Janvrin was also a Trustee of the Queen's 80th Birthday Trust and is the chairman of trustees of The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.
In December 2006, it was announced that he would retire in September 2007, to be replaced by Christopher Geidt. He was promoted to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in the 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours. On 24 July 2007, it was announced that Janvrin would be made a life peer, as one of the ten public servants whom the Prime Minister may nominate for a peerage, upon their retirement, per Parliament. His title was gazetted as Baron Janvrin, of Chalford Hill in the County of Gloucestershire on 10 October 2007, and he sits as a crossbencher. On the day of his retirement, 8 September 2007, Janvrin was promoted to Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, (GCVO) by The Queen. In October, The Queen appointed Lord Janvrin to be a Permanent Lord-in-Waiting in the Royal Household.
In the 2008 New Year's Honours List of New Zealand, Lord Janvrin was made a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for "services to New Zealand as Private Secretary to The Queen".
On 7 January 2008 he took up his appointment of Deputy Chairman, HSBC Private Bank (UK). Janvrin is also Chairman of The Leadership Council, a research and thought leadership body in the UK.
In 2008, he replaced Sir Christopher Mallaby as president of the British Entente Cordiale Scholarship trust.
Marriage
He married Isabelle de Boissonneaux de Chevigny, daughter of Yann de Boissonneaux de Chevigny, in 1977.
In popular culture
Janvrin was portrayed by Roger Allam in Stephen Frears' The Queen (2006) starring Oscar-winner Dame Helen Mirren. The film, which deals with the immediate aftermath of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997, inaccurately portrays Janvrin, then Deputy Private Secretary to the Sovereign, as Private Secretary.