Sir William Frederick Payne Heseltine (born 17 July 1930) is a former
Private Secretary to Queen
Elizabeth II. He was in office from 1986 to 1990.
Biography
Heseltine was born at
Wyalkatchem, Western Australia, in 1930. He was educated at Richmond Primary School,
Christ Church Grammar School
, motto_translation = God is our leader, learning is our light
, established =
, founder = William Joseph McClemans
, type = Independent single-sex early learning, primary, and secondary day and boarding school
, gender = Boys
, deno ...
,
Claremont, Western Australia, and the
University of Western Australia, where he received a 1st class
BA (Hons)
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
in history. Heseltine joined the Prime Minister's Department (Australia) in 1951, where he remained until 1962. He was Private Secretary to
Sir Robert Menzies,
Prime Minister (1955–1959), and Acting
Official Secretary to
The 1st Viscount De L'Isle,
Governor-General
Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...
, May to August 1962. In 1960–1961, he was temporary Assistant Press Secretary to the Queen.
From 1962 to 1964 he was Assistant Federal Director of the
Liberal Party of Australia, and in 1964 was attached to ''
The Age'' (
Melbourne). In the same year, he was attached to
Princess Marina for her tour of Australia. Heseltine joined the
Press Office of
The Royal Household as Assistant Press Secretary to the Queen in 1965–1967. He was Press Secretary 1968–1972.
In 1972, Heseltine was moved to the Private Secretary's Office proper, becoming Assistant Private Secretary. In 1977, he was promoted to Deputy Private Secretary and, in April 1986, to
Private Secretary to the Sovereign, and Keeper of the
Queen's Archives. He retired in October 1990.
He was appointed an Extra
Equerry
An equerry (; from French ' stable', and related to 'squire') is an officer of honour. Historically, it was a senior attendant with responsibilities for the horses of a person of rank. In contemporary use, it is a personal attendant, usually up ...
while Deputy Private Secretary to the Queen. He has been a company director from 1991, including chairman of NZI Insurance Australia Ltd 1992 (deputy 1991–1992); director of NZI Insurance New Zealand 1996; P&O Australia Ltd 1990–; and West Coast Telecasters Ltd 1991–1996.
Appointments
*
Privy Counsellor, 1986 ''(PC)''
* honorary Doctorate,
Murdoch University
Murdoch University is a public university in Perth, Western Australia, with campuses also in Singapore and Dubai. It began operations as the state's second university on 25 July 1973, and accepted its first undergraduate students in 1975. Its n ...
, 1992.
Retirement
On leaving Royal service, Sir William retired to the historic town of
York in his native
Western Australia.
Honours
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heseltine, William
1930 births
Living people
Companions of the Order of Australia
Companions of the Queen's Service Order
Australian Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
Australian Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Recipients of the Grand Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria
Australian members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Private Secretaries to the Sovereign
Deputy Private Secretaries to the Sovereign
Assistant Private Secretaries to the Sovereign
Australian monarchists
University of Western Australia alumni