Michael Sinclair MacAuslan Shea, (10 May 1938 – 17 October 2009) was

Press Secretary A press secretary or press officer is a senior advisor who provides advice on how to deal with the news media and, using news management techniques, helps their employer to maintain a positive public image and avoid negative media coverage. Dut ...

to Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

from 1978 to 1987. Earlier he had been a career diplomat and was also an

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

political thrillers Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

and non-fiction.

Early life

Until the age of 14 Shea attended

Lenzie Academy Lenzie Academy is a co-educational comprehensive secondary school located in Lenzie, East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. The catchment area covers Lenzie, Auchinloch and southern parts of Kirkintilloch. Senior management team The school is manage ...

, where his mother was a teacher. He then attended

Gordonstoun Gordonstoun School is a co-educational independent school for boarding and day pupils in Moray, Scotland. It is named after the estate owned by Sir Robert Gordon in the 17th century; the school now uses this estate as its campus. It is locate ...

as a result of gaining a scholarship. He graduated from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, having read

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

; he also completed his doctorate at University of EdinburghDennis Griffiths (ed.) ''The Encyclopedia of the British Press, 1422–1992'', London and Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1992, p.516 on economic development in West Africa. He was commissioned during his

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

into the Royal Corps of Signals in 1957. He entered the

Foreign Service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtains diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to o ...

in 1963 and served in Ghana,

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, Romania and New York.

Royal press secretary

After helping to arrange the Queen's official visit to the

United States Bicentennial The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to historical events leading up to the creation of the United States of America as an independent republic. It was a central event ...

celebrations in 1976, Shea became her press secretary two years later. He was at the centre of a "mole hunt" in 1986 for the person who gave a briefing to a journalist on ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...

'' in which it was said that the social policies being followed by the Thatcher government were causing the Queen "dismay","Michael Shea"
''Daily Telegraph'', 19 October 2009 and that

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

's negative attitude to the

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the ...

caused displeasure.Stephen Bate
Michael Shea Obituary
''The Guardian'', 21 October 2009 Members of Parliament called for Shea's resignation if he was responsible. The Queen's Private Secretary, Sir William Heseltine, responded to the controversy in a letter to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' confirming Shea as the contact, but asserting that Shea's comments had been misreported. Shea left royal service the following year; some sources indicated that he was "dropped" from the role. He continued to deny that there was any connection with the earlier controversy. He was not knighted but was made a Lieutenant of the Victorian Order (LVO) in 1985 and Commander (CVO) in 1987.

Other activities

While First Secretary in

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, then the capital of West Germany, Shea began his career as a writer. A thriller, ''Sonntag'', was published under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Michael Sinclair in 1971, the first of 20 books, most of them political thrillers, some set in the near future. ''State of the Nation'' (1997) and ''Endgame'' (2002) take place in an independent Scotland. His memoirs were published as ''A View from the Sidelines'' (2003). After he resigned as the Queen's press secretary, Shea worked for six years at

Hanson plc Hanson UK, formerly Hanson Trust plc, is a British-based building materials company, headquartered in Maidenhead. The company has been a subsidiary of the German company HeidelbergCement since August 2007, and was formerly listed on the London ...

as director of public relations. He can be heard in a private interview given to Brendan Bruce (former Conservative Party Director of Communications under Margaret Thatcher) for his book ''Images of Power'' (Kogan Page 1992) in the

British Library Sound Archive The British Library Sound Archive, formerly the British Institute of Recorded Sound; also known as the National Sound Archive (NSA), in London, England is among the largest collections of recorded sound in the world, including music, spoken word a ...

. Other activities included service with National Galleries of Scotland as a trustee, with the

Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is an annual series of military tattoos performed by British Armed Forces, Commonwealth and international military bands, and artistic performance teams on the Esplanade of Edinburgh Castle in the capital of S ...

as a director, and with the

Royal Lyceum Theatre The Royal Lyceum Theatre is a 658-seat theatre in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, named after the Theatre Royal Lyceum and English Opera House, the residence at the time of legendary Shakespearean actor Henry Irving. It was built in 1883 by a ...

as chairman. Shea was also among the group that revived the Edinburgh Oyster Club. Michael Shea married Mona Grec Stensen, a native of Norway, in 1968. The couple had two daughters. His last years were affected by the onset of

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

. He died at age 71 in 2009.

In popular culture

Shea was portrayed by

Nicholas Farrell Nicholas C. Frost (born 1955), known professionally as Nicholas Farrell, is an English stage, film and television actor. Education Farrell was educated at Fryerns Grammar and Technical School in Basildon, Essex, followed by the University of ...

in episode 8 of series 4 of ''

The Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

'', in a storyline focusing on apartheid and the alleged rift between

and Queen Elizabeth II.

Partial bibliography

Fiction

* ''Sonntag'' (Littlehampton, 1971, ) s by Michael Sinclair* ''Norslag'' (Littlehampton, 1972, ) s by Michael Sinclair* ''Long Time Sleeping'' (Littlehampton, 1975, ) s by Michael Sinclair* ''Tomorrow's Men'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1982, ) * ''Spin Doctor'' (

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News ...

, 1996, ) * ''The British Ambassador'' (HarperCollins, 1997, ) * ''State of the Nation'' (HarperCollins, 1997, ) * ''The Berlin Embassy'' (HarperCollins, 1999, ) * ''The Shadows Fall'' ( Severn House, 1999, ) * ''Spinoff'' (HarperCollins, 2000, ) * ''A Cold Conspiracy'' (Severn House, 2000, ) * ''Break Point'' (Severn House, 2001, ) * ''The Danube Enigma'' (Severn House, 2001, ) * ''Endgame'' (Severn House, 2002, )

Non-fiction

* ''Influence: How to Make The System Work for You – a handbook for the modern Machiavelli'' (Ebury, 1988, ) * ''Personal Impact: Presence, Paralanguage and the Art of Good Communication'' (Sinclair-Stevenson, 1993, ) * ''To Lie Abroad: Diplomacy Reviewed'' (Sinclair-Stevenson, 1996, ) * ''The Primacy Effect: The Ultimate Guide to Effective Personal Communications'' (Orion, 1998, ) * ''A View from the Sidelines'' (Sutton, 2003, )