King’s right-hand man to step down after 20 years

The King’s right-hand man, who masterminded his Coronation and steered the monarchy through recent family troubles, is to step down from his role at [Buckingham Palace](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/buckingham-palace) after 20 years.

Sir Clive Alderton, principal private secretary to [the King](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/king-charles-iii) and Queen, will leave his role next year, around the time of his 60th birthday.
He has been the King’s most senior aide for 11 years and has served the Royal household since 2006, with a three-year stint as an ambassador. The Palace will now actively seek to hire a successor, with a handover process expected to last several months.

Sir Clive, announcing his departure to staff, said: “It has been the greatest imaginable honour to serve the King and Queen in my present role through such historic times and with unforgettable humour along the way.

“That support will continue, in a less formal capacity, for all of my life.”
A palace spokesman said that the King and Queen were “deeply grateful to Clive for his tireless support and wise counsel over the years, and for the enduring loyalty that will ensure a smooth transition to his successor”.

Sir Clive is credited with overseeing the King’s “transition” from Prince of Wales to King, including planning for the moment of his accession and [the Coronation](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/king-charles-iii-coronation/) on May 6, 2023.
He steered incoming and outgoing state visits, including the recent [visit to Donald Trump in the US](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2026/04/27/king-charles-us-state-visit-historic-trip-donald-trump/), and led the Palace in navigating the King’s programme after his cancer diagnosis.

He has also played a key role in managing some of the most challenging moments for the monarchy in the 21st century: the departure of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and the involvement of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in [the Epstein files](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/the-epstein-files-/).
He has been cited as a firm hand behind the scenes after the [arrest of Mr Mountbatten-Windsor](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02/19/police-arrive-andrews-home/). He incurred the wrath of Prince Harry for being among senior aides who worked on the Sandringham summit to enforce Elizabeth II’s wishes that there could be no “half-in half-out” arrangement with his royal role.
Prince Harry called Sir Clive “The Wasp” in his memoir, Spare, although he is more often recognised for his smooth diplomacy in enforcing the King’s wishes.

In 2022, he coined the phrase “informal formality” to describe the King’s reign, having seen a woman giving him a hug outside the gates of the Palace during his first walkabout as Charles III.

Sir Clive has been praised for assisting the King and Queen during what, at the time, was considered a moment of potential danger for the monarchy: the end of the long reign of [Elizabeth II](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/queen-elizabeth-ii/) and the start of a new, unknown one.

He was among those who helped prepare for the moment, including streamlining 21 of the Prince of Wales’s charities into three, so they could run semi-independently once Charles was on the throne.
He was made Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 2022, and appointed chairman of the Coronation Organising Committee for 2023. He will depart Buckingham Palace in early summer 2027.

One friend joked that Sir Clive would soon be spending “more time with his own family, rather than the Royal family”, in recognition of his dedication to the job and loyalty to the King and Queen.

His tenure would be remembered for the “extremely effective” handling of the transition between reigns, they added.
Sophie Densham, the Queen’s private secretary, and Theo Rycroft, the King’s deputy private secretary, remain in position.

Buckingham Palace will now embark on the official search for a successor, expecting applicants from the public and private sectors as well as internal candidates.

Mr Rycroft has previously been tipped as a front-runner for the job, having moved from his role as deputy head of mission at the British embassy in Paris in January 2025.

Educated at Abingdon School, Sir Clive joined the Foreign Office in 1986 with posts in Poland, Belgium, Singapore and France.

He was appointed deputy private secretary to the then Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall in 2006, and three years later was promoted to their private secretary for foreign and Commonwealth affairs.

From 2012, he spent three years as the British ambassador to Morocco before returning to the Royal household. He has been principal private secretary to the Prince and Duchess, now the King and Queen, since 2015, working through the transition from Clarence House to Buckingham Palace.

Sir Clive is expected to continue to serve the King and Queen in an informal advisory role, as and when requested.

How old is Clive Alderton? I know Edward Young, QEII’s final private secretary and shared the role with Clive during the first year of KCIII’s reign, retired kind of young/around 60. Maybe he just isn’t interested in working anymore and it isn’t some malicious thing? He’s still going to be available in an as needed advisory role.