The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
Oliver Everett
Private secretary to Princess Diana in the 1980s who went on to serve as the last Royal Librarian
OLIVER EVERETT, who has died aged 80, was the last in a line of distinguished Royal Librarians at Windsor Castle, jointly overseeing the Royal Library and the Royal Archives, an office which dated from 1837.
He counted among his predecessors Sir Richard Holmes, Sir John Fortescue, Sir Owen Morshead and Sir Robin MackworthYoung. In his day Everett was responsible for all the collections in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle, in particular the prints and drawings, and the Royal Archives, held in the Round Tower since 1911. He lived in a house within the precincts of Windsor Castle, near the Royal Mews.
He dealt directly with the historians and biographers who wished to consult the Royal Archives, on behalf of the Queen’s Private Secretary, who was the Keeper. His tenure at Windsor is remembered by researchers as a happy one, because Everett brought to the job his varied skills as scholar, diplomat and courtier, not to mention a light touch and an element of wry humour. He was unfailingly helpful and encouraging, and ably supported by Sheila de Bellaigue. On his retirement, the responsibilities for the Royal Library and Royal Archives were separated.
Oliver William Everett was born in Brentwood, Essex, on February 28 1943, the son of Charles Everett, DSO, MC, who was twice wounded and gassed in the war, and his wife Judy. He was educated at St Aubyn’s and Felsted School, where he captained the Rugby XV, and then as an English Speaking Union exchange student at the Western Reserve Academy, Ohio, where he forged a lifelong interest in baseball.
He went on to Christ’s College, Cambridge. He obtained a master’s degree at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Massachusetts, and undertook postgraduate studies at the LSE.
He joined the Diplomatic Service in 1967, serving as First Secretary in New Delhi from 1969 to 1973 (where he was resident Hindi and political expert), in the news department at the Foreign Office in London, and later as Head of Chancery in Madrid from 1980 to 1981.
In between he was assistant private secretary to the Prince of Wales from 1978 to 1980. His appointment was seen as introducing a younger team into the
Prince’s office with Edward Adeane as private secretary, and John Dauth as press secretary. During those years Everett was frequently in attendance on the Prince on his British and overseas engagements.
Both he and the Prince were keen polo players, the new secretary’s handicap diplomatically two, with Prince Charles one better at three. In 1986 Everett undertook a two-week visit to the Rajasthan Polo Club at the invitation of the Maharajah of Jaipur, playing in the Air India team under the patronage of the Prince of Wales.
Popular with Prince Charles, Everett had been recalled from the Diplomatic Service in 1981 to serve as private secretary to the Princess of Wales. As such he guided her in the early months of her marriage.
Soon after the wedding, he went up to Balmoral to agree her first duties as a member of the Royal family. He accompanied her on many engagements, often with her lady-in-waiting, Anne Beckwith-Smith, her first solo engagement being to turn on the Regent Street lights in November 1981.
By March 1983 the relationship had soured and there were rumours of “bitter rows” between Everett and the Princess.
She would later claim that she was not given adequate help – but plenty was offered, though not always accepted by her.
Unlike the Princess, Everett diplomatically never spoke of these differences. It was suggested that he was on the point of resigning, but such was the esteem held for him in royal circles that at the end of the year he was appointed as deputy to Sir Robin Mackworth-Young at the Royal Library, succeeding him when he retired in 1985.
During his time at Windsor, he oversaw exhibitions at the Queen’s Gallery and the loan of the Queen’s treasures to exhibitions in Britain and overseas. He picked items from the Royal Archives to amuse and sometimes tease the Queen’s guests at her Easter Court “dine and sleeps” – when, as Sir Robin Mackworth-Young put it, the Queen would use the Royal Library as “a cabaret”.
He wrote a new official guidebook to the castle, taught a course on the history of Windsor Castle and assisted the media in many ways, including a television documentary. In the 1990s, he oversaw Alexander Creswell’s illustrations of the fire damage and the restored castle.
Among the many authors he helped was Flora Fraser, biographer of Queen Caroline and the daughters of George IV, and Sarah Bradford and Robert Rhodes James, on other subjects. He arranged for his niece by marriage, Benita Stoney, to help the
Duchess of York with two books related to Queen Victoria, and he later sent Hugo Vickers to guide the Duchess when she contemplated further literary endeavours.
Oliver Everett was appointed LVO in
1980, advanced to CVO in 1991. On retirement in 2002 he was appointed Librarian Emeritus. He then entered a new phase as an engaging, polished and often subtly mischievous lecturer, holding the attention of audiences at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, in New York,
Los Angeles, and Boston, Ottawa and Toronto, Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide, as well as in Germany, Spain and New Zealand, and on many cruise liners.
His talks on the treasures in the Royal Library, Windsor Castle, Buckingham
Palace and the cultural and collecting interests of monarchs such as Charles II, George III (his hero), George IV and Queen Victoria, were enriched by stunning slides from the Royal Library.
Most of all he loved lecturing on India, its history, architecture and religions, a passion formed in his years as a diplomat in Delhi. He guided art groups to India.
In his spare time he loved reading, films, rackets and baseball. An enjoyable sideline was playing Real Tennis with Prince
Edward at Holyport, near Bray.
Oliver Everett married, in 1965, Theffania Vesey Stoney, and they had two sons and two daughters. They separated amicably in 2003. He is survived by his partner, the arts administrator and filmmaker Diana Jervis-Read.
Oliver Everett, born February 28 1943, died December 22 2023