King Charles' Closest Aide Announces Retirement ― And It Might Make Prince Harry Happy
Prince Harry had expressed his frustrations with royal aides in his explosive memoir, Spare, and now one of the courtiers he reportedly criticised is set to retire.
Prince Harry’s concerns regarding royal aides are no secret. In fact, in his bombshell memoir, Spare, he wrote about three particular courtiers who he claimed had undermined him during the infamous Sandringham summit in 2020. While, obviously, the Duke of Sussex didn’t name names, he did give choice codenames to the three aides, ‘The Bee’, ‘The Fly’, and ‘The Wasp’, who were said to be the secretaries to the late Queen Elizabeth, Prince William, and King Charles respectively. But now Harry might be slightly pleased to know that his father’s long-time secretary, Sir Clive Alderton, aka the ‘Wasp’, will soon be retiring.
Harry didn’t mince his words when describing Alderton in his memoir, claiming he was “link, charming, arrogant, a ball of jazzy energy". He further wrote, “He was great at pretending to be polite, even servile. You'd assert a fact, something seemingly incontrovertible — I believe the sun rises in the mornings —and he'd stammer that perchance you might consider for a comment the possibility that you'd been misinformed: Well, heh-heh, I don't know about that, Your Royal Highness, you see, it all depends what you mean by mornings, sir.”
Amongst the other royal aides, the Duke apparently found him to be the trickiest. “He seemed so weedy, so self-effacing, you might be tempted to push back, insist on your point, and that was when he’d put you on his list. A short time later, without warning, he’d give you such a stab with his outsized stinger that you’d cry in confusion. ‘Where the f*** did that come from?’,” he wrote. Interestingly, Alderton also sits on the RAVEC board, the 10-person committee that will review Harry’s security arrangements.
After finally reuniting with his father earlier this month, Harry might receive Alderton’s retirement as good news. However, the same cannot be said for Charles and Camilla. The palace spokesperson mentioned via PEOPLE that the monarchs “are deeply grateful to Clive for his tireless support and wise counsel over the years and for the enduring loyalty that will ensure a smooth transition to his successor”. The recruitment process for Alderton’s successor will begin in the spring or summer of 2027.
After 20 years of service to the royal family, Alderton is set to step down from his role next year in May. He had initially joined the fold as a Deputy Private Secretary to then-Prince of Wales, Charles, in 2006. According to reports, the diplomat had been instrumental in improving the royal’s public image. He had briefly left the palace to work as the Ambassador to Morocco in 2012, before rejoining the royal fold as the Principal Private Secretary, a title especially created for him, to Charles and Queen Camilla in 2015.
The 59-year-old had an emotional message about the bittersweet milestone: “It has been the greatest imaginable honor to serve the King and Queen in my present role through such historic times and with unforgettable humor along the way. That support will continue, in a less formal capacity, for all of my life.”
