Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton earned an MBE for helping to disrupt drug cartels in Colombia, but he could yet be remembered for taking on a very different kind of mission: helping to bridge the divide between Britain’s estranged royal brothers.
That is the view of royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams, who believes the former royal aide would be a natural choice if the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex ever decided to pursue a genuine reconciliation.
“If they both wanted a mediator, it would unquestionably be him,” Fitzwilliams said of Lowther-Pinkerton, 65, a former SAS officer who served for nearly ten years as full-time principal private secretary to Princes William and Harry.
Lowther-Pinkerton previously worked as equerry to the Queen Mother before going on to play a key role in the lives of the young princes. He helped steer William and Harry through their military careers, supported Harry in the years after Princess Diana’s death, and assisted with Catherine’s smooth transition into royal life.
These days, he is based at a country manor in Suffolk, where he has turned his attention to creative pursuits. His novel, Beyond The Edge Of Light, is due to be published this month.
Yet Fitzwilliams suggests the Old Etonian could be drawn back from his literary life if there were ever a serious effort to repair the fractured bond between William and Harry.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Fitzwilliams said: “The world knows there is a deep and painful rift between Princes William and Harry.
“We know their father, King Charles, loves them both, but the War of the Waleses and Diana’s tragic death overshadowed their childhood. Harry was deeply traumatised, and the consequences remain plain to see today.”
If anyone could mend the Prince of Wales and Duke of Sussex’s broken relationship, it would be Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, according to royal experts (pictured together in Tetbury in 2009)
‘The brothers were close, but there was also a strong rivalry, as Harry revealed in his memoir Spare.
‘Prince Charles’s relationship with Camilla Parker-Bowles eventually led to a happy marriage. However, the pressures were immense, and both William and Harry needed a surrogate father.
‘This role was filled by their principal private secretary for eight years when they were in their twenties, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, who has a deep and enduring bond with them both that has lasted.
‘In his interview with The Times, he praises both of them, calling William “a natural leader” and Harry “a mischievous cub”.
‘He organised William’s wedding to Catherine, which is one of the weddings of the century. Clearly, their mutual trust is absolute.
‘William made him Prince George’s godparent, and he intends to act as his mentor, with his wide military experience as well as a courtier being beneficial.
‘He also handled the complex negotiations surrounding the military experience, which have been pivotal to both William and Harry’s lives.
‘He served as mentor to Catherine, helping her as she was eased into her royal role, calling her “really cool” in The Times. She hugged and kissed him publicly during an official engagement in Suffolk, which shows how close they are.
Pictured: Harry chats to Jamie during a reception at the British High Commission in 2010 in Gaborone, Botswana
Jamie praised the Princess of Wales as being a ‘cool’ woman in an interview with The Times (pictured together in Suffolk last year)
‘Despite his loyalty to the crown, he refuses to break his bond with Harry. He talks of his “huge redeeming features” and, when dealing with the rift, will only say “I’m a perennial optimist”.
‘In Spare, royal courtiers received blasts of hate from an irate Harry, but he was clearly devoted to “JLP” whom he called “the product of Britain’s finest military training” who didn’t “deal in b******t”.
‘When JLP decided against showing him papers linked to Diana’s death, which he thought he would have found challenging, Harry accepted it.
‘When the statue of Diana was unveiled in 2021, both brothers greeted him warmly.
‘So far he has chosen to be discreet and avoid involvement in the feud which continues to bedevil the monarchy.
‘Yet if a mediator were to be wanted by them both, it would undoubtedly be him.
‘However, it should be noted that he has had little to do with Meghan, as his dates of service preceded her. If one day his services were called on, would she trust him and would he trust her? As yet, we don’t know.’
Discussing Harry and the prospect of a reconciliation in The Times, Lowther-Pinkerton said: ‘What I would say is that I was and am very fond of him. He has huge redeeming features and I’m a perennial optimist.’
When the warring royal brothers greeted Jamie in July 2021, they were visibly delighted (pictured)
The ease with which Lowther-Pinkerton put the brothers at ease was revealed once again in July 2021, a time when tensions had risen between William and Harry following the Sussexes’ bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.
But one wouldn’t know the drama that was unfolding when the pair, visibly delighted, greeted Lowther-Pinkerton at their unveiling of a statue they commissioned of their mother Diana, Princess of Wales, in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, on what would have been her 60th birthday.
Elsewhere in the interview, Lowther-Pinkerton also revealed his fondness for the Princess of Wales, describing her as ‘a really cool woman’.
‘He chose well,’ he said of William, ‘I think they’re great.’
Lowther-Pinkerton, a former member of the Irish Guards and SAS, was appointed William and Harry’s first private secretary in March 2005, weeks after Harry hit the headlines for wearing a Nazi uniform.
He is also credited with helping both princes shape their military careers: while Harry served on the front line in Afghanistan, William became a search and rescue pilot at RAF Valley on Anglesey.
It comes after Lowther-Pinkerton opened up on his upcoming novel to the Daily Mail’s Diary Editor, Richard Eden.
He explained: ‘It’s a novel but is based on my mother’s romance with a handsome young German before the outbreak of the Second World War. She met him after she was sent to a finishing school in Switzerland.’
His mother, Sue, received 11 proposals of marriage before accepting Anthony Lowther-Pinkerton, known as ‘Rumpty’.
She drove ambulances during the war before becoming a motorcycle dispatch rider. She later joined Army Intelligence, then worked for MI5.
In his novel, the character based on her, Missie Ormsby, falls in love with an opponent of the Nazis conscripted into the Luftwaffe. Missie becomes a translator at Bletchley Park, the code-breaking centre in Buckinghamshire.
‘I’ve enjoyed writing it and hope it will be the first of several books. It would make a great film.’
