| Honorific-Prefix: | Lieutenant-Colonel The Right Honourable | ||||
| The Lord Charteris of Amisfield | |||||
| Office: | Private Secretary to the Sovereign | ||||
| Term Start: | 1 April 1972 | ||||
| Term End: | 12 November 1977 | ||||
| Predecessor: | Sir Michael Adeane | ||||
| Successor: | Sir Philip Moore | ||||
| Order2: | Assistant Private Secretary to the Sovereign | ||||
| Term Start2: | 1 January 1954 | ||||
| Term End2: | 1 April 1972 | ||||
| Monarch2: | Elizabeth II | ||||
| Office3: | Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | ||||
| Term Start3: | 7 February 1978 | ||||
| Term End3: | 23 December 1999 Life Peerage | ||||
| Birth Date: | 7 September 1913 | ||||
| Birth Place: | London, England[1] | ||||
| Death Place: | Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England[2] | ||||
| Nationality: | British | ||||
| Alma Mater: | Royal Military College, Sandhurst | ||||
| Module: |
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Lieutenant-Colonel Martin Michael Charles Charteris, Baron Charteris of Amisfield, (7 September 1913 – 23 December 1999) was a British Army officer and courtier of Queen Elizabeth II.[3] Charteris was the longest-serving Assistant Private Secretary to the Sovereign, having served for over 18 years in that position. Later, he became Private Secretary to the Sovereign.
Charteris was the second of two sons born to Hugo Francis Charteris, Lord Elcho (1884–1916), and Lady Violet Catherine Manners (died 1971). His paternal grandparents were The 11th Earl of Wemyss and Mary Constance Wyndham, and his maternal grandparents were The 8th Duke of Rutland and Violet Lindsay. His father, a barrister, was killed in action in Egypt in the First World War, and his mother remarried in 1922. His brother, David, succeeded as 12th Earl of Wemyss following the death of their grandfather in 1937.[4]
He was educated at Lockers Park School in Hertfordshire,[5] Eton and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and was commissioned in the King's Royal Rifle Corps. He fought in the Middle East during the Second World War, rising to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. On his return, he married the Hon. Mary Margesson (a daughter of the 1st Viscount Margesson) on 16 December 1944 in Jerusalem and they had three children.[4] [6] He retired from the Army in 1951.
In 1950, he was appointed Private Secretary to Princess Elizabeth, who was then Duchess of Edinburgh and heir presumptive to the British throne. From her accession in 1952 until 1972, he served as her Assistant Private Secretary under Sir Michael Adeane. On Adeane's retirement in 1972, he was promoted to Private Secretary. He held this post until his retirement in 1977 and returned to Eton as its Provost. He was granted the honour of being a Permanent Lord in Waiting.[7]
Charteris was noted for his outspoken interview, given to The Spectator in 1995, in which he described the Duchess of York as "vulgar", the then Prince of Wales (now Charles III) as "whiny", and the Queen Mother as "a bit of an ostrich", who "doesn't look at" what she "doesn't want to see".[8]
| Escutcheon: | Quarterly: 1st and 4th Argent a fess Azure within a double tressure flory counterflory Gules (Charteris); 2nd and 3rd Or a lion rampant Gules armed and langued Azure (Wemyss); over all at the fess point a crescent Sable for difference. |
| Crest: | A dexter hand issuant paleways holding between the thumb and forefinger in bend sinister a pair of sculptor's callipers all Proper. |
| Supporters: | Dexter a scribe soberly attired holding in his exterior hand a quill pen Proper, sinister an Officer of the King's Royal Rifle Corps in the uniform worn circa 1904 Proper. |
| Motto: | Ecce Charta Mea [9] |
Grand Decoration of Honour in Silver for Services to the Republic of Austria in 1966[11]
In the first two seasons of the Netflix series The Crown, Charteris was portrayed by Harry Hadden-Paton. In seasons 3 and 4, the more mature Charteris was played by Charles Edwards. Charteris retired in 1977 as Private Secretary. In The Crown he was portrayed as holding the office much longer than in reality.