King Charles is beefing up his team at Buckingham Palace with a significant new appointment, who earlier this year was named one half of the UK’s most powerful couples.
High-flying diplomat Theo Rycroft, currently deputy head of mission in Paris, has been appointed as the monarch’s deputy private secretary, one of the most senior positions in the royal household and one that wields considerable influence.
His role as the King’s ‘gatekeeper’ will see Rycroft advise the sovereign on both his public work and private family matters.
He was seen with Prince William in Paris on Saturday, having helped to arrange his successful meeting with US President Elect Donald Trump.
Mr Rycroft is married to the Hon Flora Astor, a half-sister of Samantha Cameron, the stylish wife of former Prime Minister David, now Lord Cameron.
Earlier this year they were named by society bible Tatler in its ‘social power index 2024’, described as the top ten most influential people in the land.
The Astor dynasty – the sisters share a mother, Lady Annabel Astor, chief executive of upmarket interiors firm Oka – were once of the wealthiest families in the United States, whose fortune was rooted in the fur trade and then Manhattan real estate.
Through a nephew, William Waldorf Astor, they established branches in the UK, as well as buying two grand houses, Cliveden and Hever Castle.
King Charles is beefing up his team at Buckingham Palace with a significant new appointment
High-flying diplomat Theo Rycroft (right), currently deputy head of mission in Paris, has been appointed as the monarch’s deputy private secretary. here he is pictured with Flora Astor
Samantha is Annabel’s daughter by her first marriage to Sir Reginald Sheffield and Flora by her second to William Waldorf Astor III.
The Rycrofts have a ‘staggeringly lovely’ 17th Century family home in the Languedoc-Rousillon wine region of France and have three children, two girls and a boy.
Flora is a qualified gemologist and private jeweller with a workshop in Hatton Garden, according to one interview, although she is very much known as the shier and more private member of the Astor clan.
Oxford-educated Rycroft is widely considered a ‘brainy, big hitter’ and will be seen as a significant appointment for the king.
He joined the diplomatic service in 2009 and has held roles including EU director, head of the EU exit strategy, legal adviser to the Prime Minister at Downing Street, head of international and EU law and well as head of constitutional law at the Attorney General’s Office.
He also practised as a commercial litigation solicitor and has an LLM in International Law and Jurisprudence as well as a masters in classics from Oxford University.
As deputy private secretary he will be one of the principal channels of communication between the king and his government, as well as those overseas.
He will also have responsibility for his official programme and correspondence, as well as dealing with tricky family issues – and there are still plenty of those.
His role as the King’s ‘gatekeeper’ will see Rycroft advise the sovereign on both his public work and private family matters
He will succeed the King’s current deputy private secretary, Chris Fitzgerald, a popular diplomat who has been on secondment from the Foreign Office and is stepping down next month.
He will go into the private sector as Group Director for International Affairs at Octopus Energy.
Rycroft will not officially start until February 1 but it is understood that he is already spending time with the royal household to enable a smooth handover at such a crucial time for the king, who will next year embark on a ‘full programme’ of international travel on behalf of the government despite his ongoing cancer treatment.
A source told the Mail: ‘Chris has been an exceptional senior member of The King’s team throughout the change of reign and will be sorely missed.
‘But Theo is a terrific appointment, bringing a wealth of experience from his time in Paris – not least helping with the phenomenal success of Their Majesties’ crucial State Visit to France and the Prince of Wales’s recent meeting with President Trump.’
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