Martin Charteris was a British Army officer and courtier of Queen Elizabeth II. In the initial seasons of the drama series, Martin was played by Harry Hadden-Paton and Charles Edwards in the latest seasons.
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In the Netflix series, he is a charming, witty, caring aide to the Queen with dashing good looks thrown into the mix. He first appears in Wolferton Splash as Princess Elizabeth’s private secretary while she and her husband are stationed in Malta.
In real life, the Queen wanted Charteris to be her Private Secretary from the beginning of her reign, according to former royal correspondent Jenny Bond. He was also Queen%u2019s and most unconventional courtiers.
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The two enjoyed a close and trusting relationship, and Charteris confessed: %u201CI simply fell in love with her when I met her. She was so young, beautiful, dutiful, the most impressive of women,%u201D as reported by Express.
He was appointed Private Secretary to Elizabeth in the year 1950. From her accession until 1972, he served as her Assistant Private Secretary under Sir Michael Adeane.
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On Adeane’s retirement in 1972, he was promoted to Private Secretary to Princess Elizabeth after almost 20 years. When he finally retired from the Queen%u2019s service, the Queen presented him with a silver tray inscribed with the words: %u201CMartin, thank you for a lifetime.%u201D
Charteris held this post until his retirement in 1977 and returned to Eton as its Provost, in his post-Private Secretary life. He was granted the honour of being a Permanent Lord in Waiting.
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Charteris was noted for his outspoken interview, given to The Spectator in 1995, in which he described the Duchess of York as “vulgar”, the Prince of Wales as “whiny”, and the Queen Mother as “a bit of an ostrich”, who “doesn’t look at” what she “doesn’t want to see”.
