The Private Secretary to the Sovereign is the senior operational member of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom (as distinct from the Great Officers of the Household). The Private Secretary is the principal channel of communication with Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom and with the governments of the other fifteen Commonwealth realms. He or she also has responsibility for the official programme and correspondence of the Sovereign. Through these roles the position wields considerable influence.
The office of Private Secretary was first established in 1805. The current Private Secretary is the Rt Hon. Sir Christopher Geidt, KCVO OBE, who succeeded Sir Robin Janvrin (now Lord Janvrin) in September 2007.
Read more about Private Secretary To The Sovereign: History, Functions, List of Private Secretaries To The Sovereign Since 1805
Famous quotes containing the words private, secretary and/or sovereign:
“The issue is privacy. Why is the decision by a woman to sleep with a man she has just met in a bar a private one, and the decision to sleep with the same man for $100 subject to criminal penalties?”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“... the wife of an executive would be a better wife had she been a secretary first. As a secretary, you learn to adjust to the boss’s moods. Many marriages would be happier if the wife would do that.”
—Anne Bogan, U.S. executive secretary. As quoted in Working, book 1, by Studs Terkel (1973)
“O sovereign mistress of true melancholy,
The poisonous damp of night disponge upon me,
That life, a very rebel to my will,
May hang no longer on me. Throw my heart
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Which, being dried with grief, will break to powder
And finish all foul thoughts. O Antony,
Nobler than my revolt is infamous,
Forgive me in thine own particular,
But let the world rank me in register
A master-leaver and a fugitive.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)