Lord Christopher Geidt is not a household name for most, however, it is a name that bears significant weight.
Having worked as the late Queen Elizabeth II’s private secretary for a decade, the Baron and House of Lords member, Lord Geidt stood down from his position in 2017.
While he quit on what appeared to be amicable terms, in the period that followed, reports suggested that things weren’t quite as they seemed. Some claimed that Lord Geidt had fallen out with King Charles and his younger brother, Prince Andrew.
According to journalist Valentine Low’s book, Courtiers, which was published in September 2022, the Prince of Wales is said to have been upset at the way Lord Geidt, who had acted as a mentor to him, was let go.
In the book, Low details the inside story of the people who work for the Royal Family and the power they wield.
Lord Geidt joined Buckingham Palace in 2002 as Assistant Private Secretary to the Queen. He swiftly rose through the ranks to become the monarch’s right-hand man and conduit with the Government. He was seen to be the “eyes and ears” of the monarchy before his departure.
One source said: “William was furious. He spoke to his grandmother and father. He felt Christopher had worked to modernise the institution and bring it closer together.”
They added: “He was concerned about the way it had been handled, and how Christopher had been treated.”
When he found out, Prince William is said to have fumed to Earl Peel, the Lord Chamberlain.
A source said: “He was really angry about it, not necessarily because it was the wrong decision. He just thought it was handled very unkindly for a man who was a pillar of the institution of the monarchy, but had also played an incredibly important role when the coalition government had been formed.”
A source in the book, also revealed how close he was to the late monarch. The book revealed: “When you were having a conversation with Christopher, you pretty much knew he did not have to go and check. Either he knew that that was what the Queen thought, or it is what she would want anyway, because he was just so entwined in her thinking.”
Lord Geidt had been the late monarch’s private secretary for 10 years but he was pushed out amid differences over how to manage the transition of power from Queen Elizabeth II to King Charles.
Lord Geidt is said to have clashed with the Duke of York during the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 2012 when the late Queen’s private secretary backed Charles’s plan to show a slimmed-down version of the monarchy on Buckingham Palace’s balcony.
Mr Low claimed that for Andrew the move was “like a dagger to his heart and he hasn’t got over it”.
Lord Geidt entered the Lords after leaving his role with the royal household, becoming Baron Geidt of Crobeg. He went on to become former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson’s ethics adviser, a post from which he resigned in June 2022.
