Robert Fellowes, Baron Fellowes

129
Robert Fellowes, Baron Fellowes bigraphy, stories - English cricketer

Robert Fellowes, Baron Fellowes : biography

11 December 1941 –

For the actor Julian Fellowes, Baron Fellowes of West Stafford, see that article.

Robert Fellowes, Baron Fellowes (born 11 December 1941) is a former Private Secretary to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 1990–1999, and is also known as a brother-in-law of Diana, Princess of Wales and first cousin of Ronald Ferguson, the father of Sarah, Duchess of York.

Offices held

Category:1941 births Category:People educated at Eton College Category:Scots Guards officers Category:Companions of the Queen’s Service Order Category:Crossbench life peers Category:Living people Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Fellowes, Robert Fellowes, Baron Category:Private Secretaries to the Sovereign Category:Deputy Private Secretaries to the Sovereign Category:Assistant Private Secretaries to the Sovereign Category:Spencer-Churchill family Category:Rhodes Trustees Category:English cricketers Category:Norfolk cricketers

Royal service

In 1977 Fellowes was recruited to join the Royal Household as Assistant Private Secretary. He spent the next 20 years in the Private Secretary’s Office, becoming Deputy in 1986, and Private Secretary in 1990.

Fellowes left his position in February 1999 to return to private banking, his retirement having been announced implicitly on 1 June 1998 when his successor Robin Janvrin was named. Later that year, he was given a life peerage, as Baron Fellowes, of Shotesham in the County of Norfolk in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List on 12 June 1999, having been knighted as Sir Robert Fellowes in 1989.

Lord Fellowes was introduced to the House of Lords and took his seat formally on 26 October 1999. According to reports from the House of Lords, Lord Fellowes remains technically a member of the Royal Household.

Robin Janvrin (portrayed by Roger Allam) was a leading character in the 2006 film The Queen, although at the time of the film’s storyline, which took place in 1997, Fellowes was still the monarch’s private secretary.

Return to private life

After retirement from the Royal Household, Lord Fellowes became Vice-Chairman, and then Chairman, of Barclays Private Banking. He is also a company director, and a trustee of the Rhodes Trust, the Mandela-Rhodes Foundation and the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. He is also Vice-Chairman of the Commonwealth Institute. He was Chairman of The Voices Foundation from 2004 until 2012. He became Chair of the Prison Reform Trust in 2001. He is also the President of Degremont UK following an approach by Prince Jean of Luxembourg (citation needed).

Family background

Fellowes is the son of Scots Guards Major Sir William (Billy) Fellowes, the Queen’s Land Agent at Sandringham, and of his wife Jane Ferguson, daughter of Brigadier-General AFH Ferguson (great-grandfather of Sarah, Duchess of York). The Fellowes of Shotesham are an old country family, related to the Lords De Ramsey (senior branch). According to Michael Rhodes (a British genealogist specializing in the British aristocracy and landed gentry), "Lord De Ramsey descends from one Coulson Fellowes (1696-1769), and Lady Jane’s husband, Lord Fellowes, descends from Coulson’s younger brother, William, of Shotesham Park, Norfolk." Julian Fellowes, author of Gosford Park, is a distant cousin.

Robert Fellowes married Lady Jane Spencer, elder sister of Diana Princess of Wales on 20 April 1978 at Westminster Abbey, when he was an Assistant Private Secretary to the Queen. The then-Lady Diana Spencer was a bridesmaid. They have three children, Laura Jane Fellowes, 19 July 1980, Alexander Robert Fellowes, 23 March 1983 and Eleanor Ruth Fellowes, 20 August 1985.

As well as being brother-in-law of Diana, Princess of Wales, he is also first cousin once removed of Sarah, Duchess of York through his mother, Jane.

Early career

Fellowes played cricket for Norfolk in the 1959 Minor Counties Championship, making one appearance each against Buckinghamshire and the Nottinghamshire Second XI. Fellowes was educated at Eton College and joined the Scots Guards in 1960 on a short service commission. After completion of service in 1963 he entered the banking industry, working for Allen Harvey and Ross Ltd, discount brokers and bankers, 1964–77. He was a managing director from 1968.

Sources and citations

Notes 1. When Lord Fellowes left Royal service, Lady Fellowes and he had to move from their "grace and favour" house in Kensington Palace, and so moved to west Norfolk.

Children

1. (The hon.) Laura Jane Fellowes b. 19 July 1980.

2. (The hon.) Alexander Robert Fellowes b. 23 March 1983, became a fourth year Classicist at Trinity College, Oxford, was educated at Eton College like his father, maternal uncle and his royal cousins. He became President of the Claret Club, an Old Etonian Society. He made news when his role in a Bullingdon Club drunken brawl was revealed December 2006 and revived March 2007 in a story about Conservative leader David Cameron.

3. (The hon.) Eleanor Ruth Fellowes b. 20 Aug 1985.

Honours and decorations

Besides his life peerage, Lord Fellowes has received the following honours:

  • Order of the Bath:
    • Companion (CB), 1987
    • Knight Commander (KCB), 1991
    • Knight Grand Cross (GCB), 1998
  • Royal Victorian Order:
    • Lieutenant (LVO), 1983
    • Knight Commander (KCVO), 1989
    • Knight Grand Cross (GCVO), 1996
  • Queen’s Service Order (QSO), 1999

He was made a Privy Counsellor (PC) in 1990.

He remained Secretary and Registrar of the Order of Merit as of 6 February 2012.Court Circular 6 February 2012.