British army officer
Field Marshal
Charles Ronald Llewelyn Guthrie, Baron Guthrie of Craigiebank
,
GCB
,
GCVO
,
OBE
,
DL
(born 17 November 1938) is a retired senior officer of the
British Army
who served as
Chief of the General Staff
from 1994 to 1997 and
Chief of the Defence Staff
from 1997 until his retirement in 2001.
Guthrie's military career saw service with the
Welsh Guards
and the
Special Air Service
; he was closely involved in military operations in
Northern Ireland
and provided advice to the British Government during the
Bosnian War
and the
Kosovo War
.
Early life
[
edit
]
Born in
Chelsea, London
into a Scottish landed family, Guthrie was the elder son of Major Ronald Guthrie and Nina
nee
Llewelyn.
[1]
[2]
He was educated at
Harrow School
and the
Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst
.
[1]
As an
Old Harrovian
, and due to his seniority in the
British Army
, Harrow School's
Combined Cadet Force
contingent, the Harrow Rifle Corps, chose to name an annual inter-CCF
competition
in Guthrie's honour.
[3]
The Guthrie Cup is a
Section
patrol competition, run for school CCFs in
London District
, supported by
adult volunteers
and cadets from the Harrow Rifle Corps and local
Army Cadet Force
detachments.
[4]
Army career
[
edit
]
Guthrie was commissioned into the
Welsh Guards
on 25 July 1959.
[5]
He was promoted to
lieutenant
on 1 June 1961
[6]
and
captain
on 25 July 1965.
[7]
In 1966 he became a troop commander with 22
Special Air Service
Regiment serving in
Aden
, the
Persian Gulf
,
Malaysia
and
East Africa
and then in 1968 he became a squadron commander with 22 Special Air Service Regiment serving in the Persian Gulf and the United Kingdom.
[8]
He returned to the Welsh Guards in
Munster
in 1970 and, following his promotion to
major
on 31 December 1970,
[9]
he was given command of a mechanised infantry company in the 1st Battalion.
[8]
He became Military Assistant to the Chief of the General Staff in 1973 and, following a year as Second in Command of 1st Battalion Welsh Guards in
London
and
Cyprus
[8]
and having been promoted to
lieutenant colonel
on 31 December 1975,
[10]
he became
brigade major
for the
Household Division
in 1976.
[1]
Guthrie was appointed a
Member of the Royal Victorian Order
(MVO
fourth class
) in the
1977 Silver Jubilee and Birthday Honours
; on 31 December 1984 this rank was reclassified as Lieutenant (LVO).
[11]
Guthrie was appointed
commanding officer
of 1st Battalion Welsh Guards in 1977 in which role he was deployed to
Berlin
.
[1]
Promoted to
colonel
on 31 December 1979,
[12]
he undertook a tour of duty in
Northern Ireland
in Spring 1980 for which he was appointed an
Officer of the Order of the British Empire
.
[13]
In 1980 he was also briefly Commander of British Forces in the
New Hebrides
.
[1]
He then spent two years as Colonel on the General Staff for Military Operations at the
Ministry of Defence
.
[1]
Promoted to
brigadier
on 31 December 1981,
[14]
he became Brigade Commander of
4th Armoured Brigade
in 1982.
[1]
In 1984 he was made chief of staff for
1st British Corps
in
Bielefeld
.
[8]
Following his appointment as
general officer commanding
(GOC)
North East District
and Commander
2nd Infantry Division
based in
York
on 18 January 1986,
[15]
he was given the substantive rank of
major general
on 31 March 1986.
[16]
On 24 November 1987, Guthrie became
Assistant Chief of the General Staff
at the
Ministry of Defence
.
[17]
On 2 October 1989 he was promoted to
lieutenant general
and appointed GOC
1st British Corps
,
[18]
[19]
and, having been appointed a
Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
in the
1990 New Year Honours
,
[20]
he relinquished his command on 2 December 1991.
[21]
Guthrie was appointed Commander of
Northern Army Group
and
British Army of the Rhine
on 7 January 1992
[22]
and, following promotion to (
full
)
general
on 14 February 1992,
[23]
became
ADC
to
the Queen
on 13 July 1993.
[24]
Guthrie then became
Chief of the General Staff
(CGS) on 15 March 1994,
[25]
being advanced to a
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
in the
Queen's Birthday Honours
1994.
[26]
As CGS, he was responsible for providing strategic military advice to the British Government on the deployment of troops for the
Bosnian War
,
[27]
and also in 1996 updated the
British Military Doctrine
.
[28]
Guthrie went on to become
Chief of the Defence Staff
on 2 April 1997.
[29]
In that position, he advised the British Government on the conduct of the
Kosovo War
.
[30]
He also warned against a British invasion of
Zimbabwe
to undertake
regime change
against
Robert Mugabe
, saying "Hold hard, you'll make it worse."
[31]
Guthrie retired from the British Army in 2001.
[1]
Guthrie was appointed
Colonel Commandant
of the
Intelligence Corps
on 1 March 1986 and Colonel Commandant of the
Special Air Service
in 2000.
[32]
[1]
For twenty years he served as Colonel of
The Life Guards
and
Gold Stick-in-Waiting
to
The Queen
, from 1 January 1999 to 7 June 2019.
[33]
[34]
Post-career activities
[
edit
]
After retiring from the British Army,
[1]
he was created a
life peer
as
Baron Guthrie of Craigiebank
, of Craigiebank in the
Dundee City council area
, in June 2001.
[35]
Lord Guthrie sat as a
crossbencher
in the
House of Lords
.
[36]
[37]
He was one of several retired Chiefs of Defence Staff who spoke out in the House of Lords about the risk to servicemen facing liability for their actions before the
International Criminal Court
, particularly with respect to the
invasion of Iraq
.
[38]
George Monbiot
criticised Guthrie for an alleged lack of understanding of
international law
. Monbiot based his argument on Guthrie's September 2002 statement for an invasion of Iraq and subsequent comments, in which he appeared to support launching "surprise wars", something forbidden by the
United Nations
Charter.
[39]
Guthrie disagreed publicly with
Prime Minister
Gordon Brown
in 2008 over military funding.
[40]
In 2007 Guthrie co-authored a book on ethics in modern warfare with
Sir Michael Quinlan
, formerly Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence.
[41]
[42]
Guthrie was promoted to the honorary rank of
field marshal
in June 2012.
[43]
[44]
Guthrie has served as a non-executive director of
Gulf Keystone Petroleum
, Rivada Networks, Ashley Gardens Block 2 Ltd,
Colt Defense
LLC and Sciens Capital; he has served as a director of
N M Rothschild & Sons
, Gulf Keystone, and
Petropavlovsk PLC
; he has served as a non-executive chairman of Siboney Ltd.; he has been a shareholder of
Palantir Technologies
and the global strategic intelligence firm Arcanum, which is a subsidiary of Magellen Investment Holdings.
[45]
[46]
[47]
He is also a member of the
Top Level Group of UK Parliamentarians for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-proliferation
, established in October 2009.
[48]
He is president of several charities, including
Action Medical Research
, the
Army Benevolent Fund
, Soldier On!,
[49]
and the Progressive Supranuclear Palsy Association.
[45]
Until 2019, he was also the president of
London Youth (Federation of London Youth Clubs)
. He is a
Deputy Lieutenant
for
Dorset
.
[1]
Guthrie was one of several contributors to a 2013 book on public sector management.
[50]
A Roman Catholic convert,
[51]
Guthrie became a
Knight of Malta
[52]
and is a Patron of the Catholic homeless charities Cardinal Hume Centre
[53]
and Caritas Anchor House.
[54]
He became Chancellor of
Liverpool Hope University
in July 2013.
[55]
In August 2014, Lord Guthrie was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to
The Guardian
opposing
Scottish independence
in the run-up to September's
referendum on that issue
.
[56]
He initially supported the continuance of the
United Kingdom's
presence in the
European Union
in the
2016 referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union
, but suddenly switched to an advocacy of withdrawing from it less than a week before the vote was held, issuing a public warning of the ambitions inherent in the E.U. for the creation of a new "European Army", which he stated "would be a disaster".
[57]
He is on the advisory board of
Veterans for Britain
an organization with the stated aim of supporting " Her Majesty's Government in the task of restoring full sovereign control to all aspects of the defence of the Realm " following the EU referendum.
[58]
Since 1 August 2017 Lord Guthrie has been the Senior Advisor to Ron Wahid, Chairman of Arcanum, a subsidiary of Magellan Investment Holdings.
[59]
[60]
Established 23 March 2015, Magellan Investment Holdings is a holding company with investments in natural resources, energy, real estate, fine arts, aerospace and defense and technology. Magellan is the parent company of two subsidiaries: Arcanum, a global intelligence firm, and RJI Capital, a merchant banking and strategic advisory company.
[61]
[62]
On 9 June 2018 it was reported that, at the annual
Trooping the Colour
event, Lord Guthrie fell from his horse and had been admitted to hospital.
[63]
On 8 January 2019, in an extraordinary intervention in the political sphere by figures from the military and intelligence services quarter, Guthrie sent a letter, co-signed by
Sir Richard Dearlove
, to
Conservative Party
Parliamentary Constituency Association Chairs, stating that the passage through the
House of Commons
of Prime Minister
Theresa May
's
Withdrawal Agreement
of the United Kingdom from the European Union contained decisions which fundamentally undermined the integrity of the Defence of the Realm, and requested they take measures to discourage their parliamentary representatives from voting for it imminently in the Commons. The letter as an alternative advocated the case upon national security grounds that the United Kingdom should fully withdraw from the European Union without an
Intergovernmental
relationship between the two persisting after the process.
[64]
On relinquishing his appointment as Colonel of The Life Guards and Gold Stick-in-Waiting, The Queen appointed Lord Guthrie a
Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
on 7 June 2019.
[34]
On 1 December 2020, he retired from the House of Lords.
[65]
His interests include tennis, opera and travel.
[1]
Family
[
edit
]
He married, on 11 September 1971, Catherine Worrall, daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Claude Worrall,
Coldstream Guards
. The couple have two sons.
[1]
[36]
She died from heart failure on 8 October 2022, at the age of 81.
[66]
[67]
Guthrie's younger brother is James Guthrie,
KC
.
[68]
Arms
[
edit
]
Lord Guthrie matriculated his family
armorial bearings
at the
Lyon Office
in 1999 (and in 2001 was granted
supporters
for life).
Coat of arms of Charles Guthrie, Baron Guthrie of Craigiebank
- Crest
- A Demi-lion Gules, armed and langued Azure, holding in its dexter Paw a Cross-Crosslet fitchee Azure.
- Escutcheon
- 1st and 4th, Argent, a Cross Sable; 2nd and 3rd, Argent, three Garbs Or, banded Gules, all within a bordure wavy Gules, charged with three Pheons Or.
- Supporters
- Dexter: a Lion Gules, armed and langued Azure, charged on the shoulder with a Pheon Or.
Sinister: a Griffin Gules, winged, beaked, legged and armed Azure, charged on the shoulder with a Pheon Or.
- Motto
- Nec Timidus Nec Tumidus
(Neither timid nor rash)
|
Honours
[
edit
]
Lord Guthrie's honours and decorations include:
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
Who's Who
2010
,
A & C Black
, 2010,
ISBN
978-1-4081-1414-8
- ^
"Index entry"
.
FreeBMD
. ONS
. Retrieved
30 March
2017
.
- ^
"Harrow School CCF Webpage"
. Retrieved
30 August
2022
.
- ^
"London District Cadets Branch Twitter"
. Retrieved
30 August
2022
.
- ^
"No. 41826"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 22 September 1959. p. 6045.
- ^
"No. 42419"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 21 July 1961. p. 5495.
- ^
"No. 43721"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 23 July 1965. p. 7137.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Nato biography"
. Archived from
the original
on 1 October 2011
. Retrieved
24 July
2012
.
- ^
"No. 45271"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 1 January 1971. p. 119.
- ^
"No. 46773"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 29 December 1975. p. 16370.
- ^
a
b
"No. 47234"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 11 June 1977. p. 7084.
- ^
"No. 48080"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 28 January 1980. p. 1438.
- ^
a
b
"No. 48346"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 20 October 1980. p. 14607.
- ^
"No. 48852"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 4 January 1982. p. 157.
- ^
"No. 50426"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 10 February 1986. p. 1965.
- ^
"No. 50515"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 12 May 1986. p. 6487.
- ^
"No. 51136"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 30 November 1987. p. 14769.
- ^
"No. 51890"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 2 October 1989. p. 11310.
- ^
"The Gulf Conflict Part 1 ? Defensive Operations"
.
YouTube
.
Archived
from the original on 22 December 2021
. Retrieved
7 July
2020
.
- ^
a
b
"No. 51981"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 29 December 1989. p. 2.
- ^
"No. 52732"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 2 December 1991. p. 18536.
- ^
"No. 52792"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 13 January 1992. p. 497.
- ^
"No. 52838"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 17 February 1992. p. 2789.
- ^
"No. 53369"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 12 July 1993. p. 11759.
- ^
"No. 53645"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 18 April 1994. p. 5799.
- ^
a
b
"No. 53696"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 10 June 1994. p. 2.
- ^
"Transcript of the Press Briefing"
. NATO. 24 July 1996
. Retrieved
17 December
2011
.
- ^
"Design for Military Operations - The British Military Doctrine"
(PDF)
.
Army Code No 71451
. No. D/CGS/50/8. Chief of the General Staff. 1996.
- ^
"No. 54726"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 7 April 1997. p. 4170.
- ^
"UK military briefing on operation allied force"
. 27 March 1999. Archived from
the original
on 7 June 2011
. Retrieved
17 December
2011
.
- ^
"Lord Guthrie: 'Tony's General' turns defence into an attack"
.
The Independent
. 11 November 2007.
- ^
"No. 50452"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 10 March 1986. p. 3441.
- ^
"No. 55365"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 4 January 1999. p. 54.
- ^
a
b
Court Circular
, 7 June 2019.
- ^
www.parliament.uk
- ^
a
b
"Burkes Peerage"
. Retrieved
24 July
2012
.
- ^
"No. 56260"
.
The London Gazette
. 2 July 2001. p. 7767.
- ^
"Armed Forces: Chain of Command"
. Hansard. 14 July 2005
. Retrieved
17 December
2011
.
- ^
Monbiot, George (1 January 2008).
"How Britain became party to a crime that may have killed a million people"
.
The Guardian
. London
. Retrieved
17 December
2011
.
- ^
Thomson, Alice (25 July 2009).
"Guthrie attacks Gordon Brown over helicopters for Afghanistan troops"
.
The Times
.
- ^
Charles Guthrie and Michael Quinlan (2007).
Just War: The Just War Tradition: Ethics in Modern Warfare
. Walker.
ISBN
9780802717030
.
- ^
Richard Norton-Taylor (3 November 2007).
"Immoral victories"
.
The Guardian
. London
. Retrieved
16 September
2012
.
- ^
"Announcement"
. AFP. Archived from
the original
on 28 November 2012
. Retrieved
22 July
2012
.
- ^
"No. 60350"
.
The London Gazette
. 7 December 2012. p. 23557.
- ^
a
b
"House of Lords: Register of Interests"
. Retrieved
17 December
2011
.
- ^
"Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank"
.
parliament.uk
. Retrieved
11 December
2018
.
- ^
"Field Marshal Charles Roland Llewelyn Guthrie: Senior Adviser to the Chairman"
.
Arcanum
. 2018
. Retrieved
11 December
2018
.
- ^
Borger, Julian (8 September 2009).
"Nuclear-free world ultimate aim of new cross-party pressure group"
.
The Guardian
. London
. Retrieved
17 December
2011
.
- ^
"Our Patrons"
. Soldier on!. Archived from
the original
on 5 July 2013
. Retrieved
7 August
2013
.
- ^
Stevenson, Alexander (2013).
The Public Sector:Managing the Unmanageable
. Kogan Page.
ISBN
978-0-7494-6777-7
.
- ^
"General tells pupils about history and leadership"
.
Catholic Herald
. 18 June 2010
. Retrieved
28 December
2011
.
- ^
Moreton, Cole (11 November 2008).
"Lord Guthrie: 'Tony's General' turns defence into an attack"
.
The Independent
. London
. Retrieved
28 December
2011
.
- ^
"About Us: Patrons"
. Cardinal Hume Centre
. Retrieved
28 December
2011
.
- ^
"Our Supporters"
. Caritas Anchor House. Archived from
the original
on 7 December 2014
. Retrieved
5 December
2014
.
- ^
"SAS veteran Lord Guthrie becomes new Liverpool Hope University chancellor"
.
Liverpool Echo
. 16 July 2013
. Retrieved
1 March
2015
.
- ^
"Celebrities' open letter to Scotland ? full text and list of signatories"
.
TheGuardian.com
. 7 August 2014
. Retrieved
25 August
2014
.
- ^
"EU referendum: Ex-army chief Lord Guthrie switches to Leave"
. BBC News. 18 June 2016
. Retrieved
18 June
2016
.
- ^
"About us"
.
Veterans for Britain
. Archived from
the original
on 25 December 2019
. Retrieved
3 January
2020
.
- ^
"United Kingdom: Lord Guthrie Comes Aboard at Arcanum ? Intelligence Online"
. Intelligence online. 23 August 2017
. Retrieved
8 January
2018
.
- ^
"Former Head of the British Army and Defence Chief Joins Arcanum"
.
Arcanum
. 1 August 2018
. Retrieved
11 December
2018
.
- ^
"Magellan Investment Holdings Limited"
.
gbr.business.com
. Retrieved
11 December
2018
.
- ^
"Magellan Holdings"
. Archived from
the original
on 11 December 2018
. Retrieved
11 December
2018
.
- ^
"Trooping the Colour: Former Chief of Defence staff Lord Guthrie falls from horse during ceremony"
.
The Telegraph
. London. 9 June 2018
. Retrieved
9 June
2018
.
- ^
"Theresa May's Brexit deal threatens national security says former head of MI6"
.
The Daily Telegraph
. 10 January 2019
. Retrieved
11 January
2019
.
- ^
"Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank"
.
UK Parliament
. Retrieved
1 December
2020
.
- ^
"Lady Guthrie". Register.
The Times
. No. 73915. London. 15 October 2022. col 2, p. 86.
- ^
"Lady Guthrie obituary"
.
The Times
. 11 November 2022
. Retrieved
11 November
2022
.
- ^
"James Guthrie"
. Harecourt. Archived from
the original
on 27 January 2021
. Retrieved
20 July
2022
.
- ^
"CENTRAL CHANCERY OF THE ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD"
.
thegazette.co.uk
. Retrieved
14 June
2019
.
- ^
Mackay, James; Mussell, John W. (2004).
The Medal Yearbook 2004
. Devon, UK: Token Publishing Ltd. p. 236.
ISBN
9781870192620
.
- ^
"Charles Guthrie, Baron Guthrie of Craigiebank"
. Debrett's People of Today. Archived from
the original
on 26 July 2014
. Retrieved
18 July
2014
.
- ^
"Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 5 Septembris 2008"
(PDF)
. Holy See
. Retrieved
18 June
2017
.
- ^
The International Who's Who 2004
. Europa Publications. 26 April 2024. p.
666
.
ISBN
9781857432176
. Retrieved
22 June
2017
.
charles guthrie Malta who's who 2004.
- ^
"New promoted Delegation Knights and Dames invested at London ceremony"
. Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George, Delegation of Great Britain and Ireland. 26 April 2013
. Retrieved
21 June
2017
.
- ^
"Constantinian Order 2003 ? Westminster Cathedral Investiture Ceremony"
. Constantinian Order at Youtube.
Archived
from the original on 22 December 2021
. Retrieved
21 June
2017
.
- ^
"Announcements: Investiture in Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George"
.
The Times
. Retrieved
21 June
2017
.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
People
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|