When the Queen died, everyone knew that Buckingham Palace was facing a tidal wave of change. With the loss of a monarch, the Royal Household faced the foreboding prospect of new staff. Last week, dozens of Clarence House staff were notified of their redundancy while a service was being held for the Queen in Edinburgh. The biggest turnover of all, though, will be the departure of the Queen’s old Private Secretary, Sir Edward Young, and the arrival of King Charles III’s new Private Secretary, Sir Clive Alderton.
Sir Clive Alderton attends day 5 of Royal Ascot at Ascot RacecourseMax Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images
The Private Secretary is to the monarch what butter is to bread. As the most important member of the Royal Household, he is now responsible for supporting the King in his duties as Head of State. Described by the Royal Family as ‘the channel of communication between the Head of State and the Government’, he also liaises with the Armed Forces, the Church and the many organisations of which His Majesty is patron.
Replacing Sir Edward with Sir Clive will not be a surprise to many members of the Royal Household. Sir Clive has been a trusted and much-loved adviser to the King and Queen Consort since 2006. Reportedly the man behind the notorious phrase ‘some recollections may vary’ after the Duchess of Sussex’s accusations of racism in the Firm, he is known for his love of culture, his sense of humour and his fierce intelligence. A source in The Times describes him as ‘one of the most, if not the most, intelligent people I’ve ever met. He didn’t go to university, he got fast-tracked into the Foreign Office. He broke a record and was Britain’s youngest ambassador. He was the definition of a high flyer.’
