Christopher Geidt

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Person.png Lord Geidt  Rdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
Lord Geidt.jpg
BornChristopher Edward Wollaston MacKenzie Geidt
August 1961
Alma materKing's College London, Trinity Hall (Cambridge)

Employment.png Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests

In office
28 April 2021 - Present

Employment.png Private Secretary to the Sovereign

In office
8 September 2007 - 17 October 2017

Christopher Geidt, Baron Geidt is a member of the House of Lords and is the former Private Secretary to Queen Elizabeth II (2007 to 2017).[1] Having spent a decade as the Queen's Private Secretary, he was ousted from his position in 2017 in a power struggle between Buckingham Palace and Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, according to The Times.[2]

Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests

On 28 April 2021, Lord Geidt was appointed by Boris Johnson as the new Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests[3] in succession to Sir Alex Allan who resigned in November 2020, after the PM overruled him over a report into alleged bullying by Priti Patel.[4]

Background

An Army Scholar, Christopher Geidt enlisted in the Scots Guards and attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He was later commissioned 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.

Cambodia

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 secretly engaged in the training of the Khmer Rouge. Geidt and de Normann accepted ‘very substantial’ damages and all costs.[5] 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.[6]

Bosnia

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.[7][8][9] 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.[10]

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References

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