Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

Richard J. Aylard, (born 10 April 1952) is a retired British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

officer and is a Director and Special Advisor to the Chief Executive of

Thames Water Thames Water Utilities Limited, trading as Thames Water, is a British private utility company responsible for the water supply and waste water Wastewater (or waste water) is water generated after the use of freshwater, raw water, drinking w ...

. From 1991 to 1996 he was Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales.

Education

Richard Aylard was born on 10 April 1952 in

St Pancras, London St Pancras () is a district in North London. It was originally a medieval Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and subsequently became a metropolitan borough. The metropolitan borough then merged with neighbouring boroughs and the are ...

, and educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Barnet. His mother, Joyce Aylard, had been a

Wren Wrens are a family, Troglodytidae, of small brown passerine birds. The family includes 96 species and is divided into 19 genera. All species are restricted to the New World except for the Eurasian wren that is widely distributed in the Old Worl ...

and

codebreaker Cryptanalysis (from the Greek ''kryptós'', "hidden", and ''analýein'', "to analyze") refers to the process of analyzing information systems in order to understand hidden aspects of the systems. Cryptanalysis is used to breach cryptographic secu ...

during World War II. His father, John Aylard, was an officer in the RNVR, serving on the PQ convoys to Russia. Richard studied at the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

, graduating with a BSc(Hons) in Applied Zoology with Mathematics, and at the

Britannia Royal Naval College Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth, also known as Dartmouth, is the naval academy of the United Kingdom and the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy. It is located on a hill overlooking the port of Dartmouth, Devon, En ...

, Dartmouth. He is an Honorary Fellow of the

Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) is an independent professional body and a registered charity in the United Kingdom that works internationally to advance the science and practice of water resource managemen ...

Royal Navy

Aylard joined the Supply and Secretariat Branch of the

in 1972. He served on , and between 1974 and 1977, being promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

on 16 November 1975. From 1977 to 1979 he was on the staff of FOSM, and 1979–81 was Flag Lieutenant to Deputy

Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic The Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic (SACLANT) was one of two supreme commanders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the other being the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR). The SACLANT led Allied Command Atlantic was based ...

. He was

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Secretary A secretary, administrative assistant, executive assistant, personal secretary, or other similar titles is an individual whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, program evalu ...

on 1981–83, when he received the

South Atlantic Medal The South Atlantic Medal is a British campaign medal awarded to British military personnel and civilians for service in the Falklands War of 1982 between the United Kingdom and Argentina. Over 33,000 medals have been awarded. The South Atlantic Me ...

for service during the

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

. He was promoted to lieutenant commander on 16 November 1983 and between 1984 and 1985, was Supply Officer on , where he served alongside

Prince Andrew Prince Andrew, Duke of York (Andrew Albert Christian Edward; born 19 February 1960) is a member of the British royal family. He is the third child and second son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and a younger broth ...

. In November 1985 he was appointed

Equerry An equerry (; from French language, French 'stable', and related to 'squire') is an officer of honour. Historically, it was a senior attendant with responsibilities for the horses of a person of rank. In contemporary use, it is a personal attend ...

to Diana Princess of Wales, an office he held until 1988. He became a

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

on 30 June 1987 and from 31 May to 30 September 1988, was temporary Assistant Private Secretary to the Princess.

Royal household

Aylard left the Royal Navy in July 1989, and from May 1989 to 1991, was Assistant Private Secretary and

Comptroller A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accountancy, accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior- ...

to the Prince and Princess of Wales. From May 1991 until his retirement in 1996, he was Private Secretary and

Treasurer A treasurer is a person responsible for the financial operations of a government, business, or other organization. Government The treasury of a country is the department responsible for the country's economy, finance and revenue. The treasure ...

to the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

. He remains an Extra

Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

(previously the Prince of Wales). He was made a

Commander of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order () is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch, members of the royal family, or to any viceroy or senior representative of the ...

in 1994.

Subsequent career

From 1996 to 2002, Aylard was a consultant on environmental issues and public affairs at

Burson-Marsteller Burson (formerly Burson Cohn & Wolfe (BCW)) is a global public relations and communications firm, headquartered in New York City, focused on building reputation for clients. In February 2018, parent WPP Group PLC announced that it had merged it ...

. In 2002, he joined

as Corporate Responsibility Director, became their External Affairs and Sustainability Director is now a Director and Special Advisor to the Chief Executive. Aylard is a Senior Associate of the

Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership The Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), formerly the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership and the Cambridge Programme for Industry, is part of the University of Cambridge. The institute works with leaders to ...

, an Ambassador for

WWF-UK The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the ...

and an Associate of

Forum for the Future Forum for the Future is an international sustainability organisation that works in partnership with business, government and civil society to try to accelerate change toward a just and regenerative future. It works by catalysing change in key glob ...

In popular culture

Aylard is portrayed by

Alastair Mackenzie Alastair John Mackenzie (born 8 February 1970) is a Scottish actor and writer. Early life Alastair Mackenzie was born in Trinafour, near Perth, and educated at Westbourne House School and Glenalmond College in Perthshire. He left home at ...

season 5 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

of the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

TV series ''The Crown''.

Footnotes

1952 births Living people Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Royal Navy officers Royal Navy personnel of the Falklands War Alumni of the University of Reading Graduates of Britannia Royal Naval College Equerries People educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School for Boys Thames Water Military personnel from the London Borough of Camden People from St Pancras, London Members of the Household of the Prince of Wales {{UK-navy-bio-stub