Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Charles Gerard Courtenay Vyvyan, (born 29 September 1944) is a retired

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

officer. He served as Head of the British Defence Staff and Defence Attaché in Washington, D.C. (1997–2000), and Gentleman Usher of the Scarlet Rod (2006–2018).

Early life and education

Vyvyan was born on 29 September 1944 to Elizabeth and John Vyvyan. His father was a diplomat, British Army veteran, and history fellow at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

. He was educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of ...

, an all-boys independent school in

Winchester, Hampshire Winchester is a cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, at the western end of the South Downs National Park, on the River Itchen. It is south-west of Lond ...

. He studied modern history at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the ...

, graduating with

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

(BA) degree in 1966.

Military career

Vyvyan was commissioned into the

Royal Green Jackets The Royal Green Jackets (RGJ) was an infantry regiment of the British Army, one of two "large regiments" within the Light Division (the other being The Light Infantry). History The Royal Green Jackets was formed on 1 January 1966 by the amalgam ...

in 1967.'' Who's Who 2010'',

A & C Black A & C Black is a British book publishing company, owned since 2002 by Bloomsbury Publishing. The company is noted for publishing '' Who's Who'' since 1849. It also published popular travel guides and novels. History The firm was founded in 18 ...

, 2010, After a two-year secondment to the

Sultan of Oman The sultan of the Sultanate of Oman is the monarchical head of state and head of government of Oman. It is the most powerful position in the country. The sultans of Oman are members of the Busaid dynasty, which has been the ruling family of O ...

's Land Forces in the mid-1970s, he became commanding officer of 1st Battalion Royal Green Jackets in 1984, Commander 3rd Infantry Brigade in 1988 and Deputy Chief of Staff at Headquarters UK Land Forces in 1994. He went on to be Head of the British Defence Staff and Defence

Attaché In diplomacy, an attaché is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified accord ...

in Washington, D.C. in 1997 before retiring in 2000.

Later life

Vyvyan was a

visiting fellow In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...

at the Eisenhower Institute in Washington, D.C., from 2002 to 2006. He was appointed Gentleman Usher of the Scarlet Rod in 2006: he stepped down in 2018.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Vyvyan, Charles Living people Gentlemen Ushers British Army generals 1944 births Companions of the Order of the Bath Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Winchester College Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford British military attachés