Michael Sinclair MacAuslan Shea, (10 May 1938 – 17 October 2009) was Press Secretary to Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

from 1978 to 1987. Earlier he had been a career

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

and was also an

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of political thrillers and non-fiction.

Early life

Until the age of 14 Shea attended Lenzie Academy, where his mother was a teacher. He then attended Gordonstoun as a result of gaining a scholarship. He graduated from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, having read

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; 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 into the

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in 1957. He entered the Foreign Service in 1963 and served in Ghana,

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, Romania and New York.

Royal press secretary

After helping to arrange the Queen's official visit to the United States Bicentennial 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 Sunday 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 N ...

'' 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 a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

's negative attitude to the

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the British Commonwealth or simply the Commonwealth, is an International organization, international association of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, 56 member states, the vast majo ...

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 ''

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'' 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

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(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 assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

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 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. Other activities included service with

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as a trustee, with the

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as a director, and with the Royal Lyceum Theatre 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 syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...

. He died at age 71 in 2009.

In popular culture

Shea was portrayed by Nicholas Farrell in episode 8 of series 4 of ''

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'', 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'' (

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, 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, )