Overview
- Buckingham Palace announced the move on Monday, July 27, saying Sir Clive Alderton will leave around his 60th birthday in May 2027 after 20 years in the Royal Household.
- Alderton will stay in post through a handover period in spring and summer 2027 and has said he will continue to support the King and Queen in a less formal capacity.
- The Palace has launched a formal, open recruitment process that will consider internal and external candidates and aims to identify a successor before the handover.
- Observers and media have named internal figures such as Deputy Private Secretary Theo Rycroft and senior Foreign Office diplomats as likely contenders, though no appointment has been made.
- The role co‑ordinates the sovereign’s official diary, liaises with government, the Church, Commonwealth realms and the armed forces, and manages state visits and sensitive family or constitutional issues, so the choice will shape the Household’s operational continuity and political optics.