Major General Sir Christopher Airy, a former private secretary to King Charles and Princess Diana, has died aged 91. Sir Christopher was hired in 1990 to bring stability to the warring royal couple's marriage, but he lasted less than a year in the role.
The distinguished soldier was a former Grenadier Guards officer who had commanded the Army's Household Division before his royal appointment. He had become a familiar face to the late Queen Elizabeth II and other royals in that role.
Sir Christopher was born in Woolwich in 1934, the second son of Colonel Eustace Airy. Educated at Marlborough College, he underwent officer training at Sandhurst before being commissioned into the Grenadier Guards.
His military career flourished with postings including serving as an assistant to War Secretary John Profumo and commanding the Queen's Company of the 1st Battalion in Northern Ireland in 1970.
Former Royal Family secretary to King Charles and Princess Diana dies aged 91.
Getty / The Not Forgotten
He later served as Assistant Chief of Staff of UK Land Forces in 1982, playing a key part in deploying Scots Guards and Welsh Guards for the Falklands War.
Sir Christopher's appointment as private secretary to both Charles and Diana was announced in late 1989, replacing Sir John Riddell. But royal expert Valentine Low described him as one of the then-Prince Charles's "worst" appointments in his book Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown.
Low detailed how Sir Christopher was left frustrated at the increasing division between Charles and Diana's respective staff as tensions in their marriage increased. One contemporary described him as a "very bad fit" and "completely on a different planet".
One courtier quoted in Low's book said the "fundamental" issue was that he did not "fit in". "He was not attuned to Charles's growing charitable interests and struggled to understand the differences between the prince's various organisations," they said.
Charles and Diana married in 1981 and divorced in 1996.
PAAnother contemporary said: "Christopher was a very bad fit. He was very charming, very posh, very Household Cavalry. But he was very naive about how the world went round outside.
He was completely on a different planet. He must have been miserable. We would all talk acronyms, all this charitable, voluntary sector, government stuff. And Christopher was completely lost."
Patrick Jephson, who served as Diana's private secretary from 1988 to 1996, recounted an incident when Sir Christopher told Charles that he had to attend a particular state occasion because it was "his duty". The King was said to have "stiffened at the remark" and allegedly replied in sarcastic fashion: "Oh, is it?"
Sir Christopher's departure from his royal role was announced in May 1991.
King Charles and Princess Diana visiting Canada in 1991.
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Princess Diana on her wedding day to King Charles in 1981.
PAThe Queen gave him the honour of receiving him when he left his royal position. Sir Christopher and his wife later moved to a farmhouse in Somerset where they spent the rest of their lives.
He continued his charitable work, raising money for various causes and serving as chairman of the Not Forgotten Association.
Charles and Diana announced their separation in 1992 and divorced in 1996, a year before the late Princess of Wales was killed in a car crash in Paris.
Sir Christopher died on April 7, but his passing only emerged in recent days. His brief tenure came during one of the most turbulent periods in modern royal history, as he attempted to navigate the increasingly fractured relationship between the future King and his first wife.
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