Alan Lascelles

Sir Alan Frederick "Tommy" Lascelles GCB GCVO CMG MC (11 April 1887 – 10 August 1981) was a British courtier and civil servant who held several positions in the first half of the twentieth century, culminating in his position as Private Secretary to both King George VI and to Queen Elizabeth II. He wrote the Lascelles Principles in a 1950 letter to the editor of The Times, using the pen-name "Senex".

Life

Lascelles (usually pronounced to rhyme with "tassels") was known to his intimates as "Tommy". He was born the son of Commander The Hon. Frederick Canning Lascelles and Frederica Maria Liddell, and the grandson of Henry Lascelles, 4th Earl of Harewood. He was thus a cousin of Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood, who married Mary, the Princess Royal, sister of his employers, Edward VIII and George VI.

After attending school at Marlborough College, followed by Trinity College, Oxford, Lascelles served in France with the Bedfordshire Yeomanry during the First World War, after which he became the Aide-de-Camp to his brother-in-law Lord Lloyd, the Governor of Bombay from 1919 to 1920.

He then returned to England and was appointed Assistant Private Secretary to Edward, Prince of Wales, in 1920, serving in that role until he resigned in 1929, citing differences with the prince. From 1931 to 1935, he was Secretary to the Governor General of Canada.

He became the Assistant Private Secretary to King George V.

When the Prince of Wales ascended to the throne as King Edward VIII, upon the death of King George V, in January 1936, Lascelles served briefly as the new King's private secretary. Then, when Edward VIII abdicated in December 1936, Lascelles became private secretary to King George VI, some time after the new king's accession.

He was knighted by King George VI, while aboard a train, during the highly successful 1939 royal tour of Canada and the United States, which he had helped to arrange and manage.

In 1943, he was promoted to Private Secretary to King George VI. In 1952, he became Private Secretary to Queen Elizabeth II, a role he held until 1953.

He was also Keeper of the Royal Archives from 1943 to 1953.

His papers are now held in the Churchill Archives Centre, in Great Britain.

He died in 1981 at the age of 94.

Family

On 16 March 1920, he married Joan Frances Vere Thesiger (1895–1971).

They had three children:

• John Frederick Lascelles, born 11 June 1922, died 11 September 1951.
• Lavinia Joan Lascelles, born 27 June 1923; married to Major Edward Westland Renton, then briefly to the writer Gavin Maxwell.
• Caroline Mary Lascelles, born 15 February 1927; married 1949 to Antony Lyttelton, 2nd Viscount Chandos; then 1985 to David Erskine, son of Lord Erskine.

In popular culture

His mother Frederica Liddell was related to Alice Liddell, the inspiration for Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland".[1] He is portrayed by Pip Torrens in the Netflix series The Crown.

Honours and awards