Army veteran who served as Queen’s right-hand man
HIS highest profile role has been as the Prime Minister’s ethics adviser, but Lord Geidt has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in public service.
Christopher Geidt, 60, had a gilded upbringing, studying at private schools in Oxford and Perth before going to Cambridge University.
He later attended Sandhurst Royal Military Academy and enlisted in the Scots Guards, where he was assigned to an intelligence role.
He served in Sarajevo during the Bosnian War and his duties involved liaising with General Ratko Mladic – later convicted of war crimes.
Lord Geidt joined the Royal Household in 2002 as Assistant Private Secretary to the Queen before gaining the top job of Private Secretary, where he remained between 2007 and 2017.
In the role, he was responsible for working with senior civil servants. Geidt, the Cabinet
Secretary and No 10’s Permanent Secretary were referred to as the ‘Golden Triangle’ and he helped to shape the monarch’s approach to the hung parliament of 2010.
His term at Buckingham Palace ended in 2017 after he was reportedly forced out following a power struggle with the Prince Charles and Prince Andrew. The trio are said to have disagreed on how to manage the transfer of power from the Queen to Charles – when he eventually succeeds her – with Lord Geidt’s preference for a ‘gentle transition’ being rejected.
His 15 years of service were rewarded with a life peerage shortly after he stepped down. He was also appointed a LordIn-Waiting in 2019.
His brief time in Downing Street – which started in April last year – thrust Geidt into
the public eye. A month after being appointed as the Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests, he published a report into the costly renovation of the flat above 11 Downing Street.
He concluded that Boris Johnson did not breach the ministerial code after allegations were made that an undisclosed loan was used to help finance the work.
However, he said it had been ‘unwise’ for Mr Johnson to proceed as he did.
Months later, he reportedly threatened to resign after the Prime Minister was
accused of misleading him during his investigation into the flat scandal. In his annual report this year, Geidt said there was a ‘legitimate question’ over whether Mr Johnson broke the code following his Partygate fine.
On Tuesday he told a parliamentary committee that resigning was ‘always on the agenda’ and that he felt ‘frustration’ over the lockdownbreaching events.
Lord Geidt, who sits as a crossbench peer, runs a farm with his wife Emma in the Outer Hebrides. They have two daughters.