| The Right Honourable The Lord Adeane GCB GCVO PC |
|
|---|---|
| Private Secretary to the Sovereign | |
| In office 1953–1972 |
|
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Preceded by | Capt. The Rt. Hon. Sir Alan Lascelles |
| Succeeded by | Lt. Col. The Rt. Hon. Sir Martin Charteris |
| Personal details | |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | Magdalene College, Cambridge |
Lieutenant-Colonel Michael Edward Adeane, Baron Adeane, GCB, GCVO, PC (30 September 1910 – 30 April 1984), was Private Secretary to Queen Elizabeth II during the first twenty years of her reign.
Adeane was a maternal grandson of Lord Stamfordham and was educated at Eton and graduated from Magdalene College, Cambridge in 1934 with a Master of Arts degree. He 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,[1] 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 he was credited with a share a tiger kill with Sir Christopher Bonham-Carter in a royal tiger hunt.[2] 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.[2]
In 1972, Adeane was given a life peerage as Baron Adeane, of Stamfordham in the County of Northumberland.
His son, the Hon. Edward Adeane, CVO, a noted barrister, was Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales 1979-1985.
| Court offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Henry Hunloke |
Page of Honour 1923–1927 |
Succeeded by Jock Colville |
| Preceded by Alan Lascelles |
Private Secretary to the Sovereign 1953–1972 |
Succeeded by Martin Charteris |