Mark William Bolland (born 10 April 1966) is a British public relations executive. Bolland worked for the Advertising Standards Authority and the

Press Complaints Commission The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) was a voluntary regulatory body for British printed newspapers and magazines, consisting of representatives of the major publishers. The PCC closed on Monday 8 September 2014, and was replaced by the Inde ...

before serving as Deputy Private Secretary to

Charles, Prince of Wales Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to a ...

, from 1997 to 2002. During his time with Charles, Bolland was credited with rehabilitating the prince's public image and enhancing the public image of the relationship between Charles and

Camilla Parker Bowles Camilla (born Camilla Rosemary Shand, later Parker Bowles, 17 July 1947) is Queen Consort of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms as the wife of King Charles III. She became queen consort on 8 September 2022, upon the ac ...

, who would become the prince's second wife. After leaving the Prince, Bolland established a public relations and communications firm, Mark Bolland & Associates, and has held several roles in the charitable and third sector.

Biography

Early life

Bolland was born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada, the son of Arthur Bolland, who had emigrated from

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the ...

in England, and his wife Joan. His parents later had a daughter and the family returned to England. Bolland was educated at the King's Manor School in Middlesbrough, and the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for post-nominals) is a collegiate research university, located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, co ...

, where he received a BSc in chemistry. After university Bolland worked as a public affairs executive with Public Affairs International in Toronto before joining IBM's UK branch as a marketing executive where he worked from 1987 to 1988. Bolland then joined the Advertising Standards Authority and began a career in media regulation. Lord McGregor, then Chairman of the ASA, promoted Bolland to be Research Manager and Adviser to him and the Director-General from 1989 to 1991. Bolland then followed Lord McGregor to the newly created

(PCC), serving as his executive assistant and then being promoted to Director of the PCC from 1992 to 1996. McGregor's successor at the PCC,

Lord Wakeham John Wakeham, Baron Wakeham, (born 22 June 1932) is a British businessman and Conservative Party politician. Between 1998 and 2012, he was chancellor of Brunel University, and since then has been its chancellor emeritus. He was a director of ...

, recommended to

, that Bolland should work as his adviser, and Bolland's partner, Guy Black, who had worked previously for Wakeham, subsequently succeeded him as director of the PCC.

Deputy Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales

Bolland was appointed Assistant Private Secretary to Charles, Prince of Wales in August 1996, and in 1997 became Deputy Private Secretary. He served in the role of Deputy Private Secretary to Charles, Prince of Wales until 2002. Bolland has been described as a 'key figure' in the rehabilitation of Charles following his negative public image after the death of his first wife, Diana, in 1997 and helping to create public acceptance for the relationship between Charles and

which led to their marriage in 2005. The popularity rating of Charles increased from a low of 20 per cent following the death of Diana to 75 per cent during Bolland's tenure. Bolland and the prince's Private Secretary,

Stephen Lamport Sir Stephen Mark Jeffrey Lamport, (born 27 November 1951) is a former Receiver General of Westminster Abbey. He was previously a career diplomat and Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales. Biography Lamport was educated at Dorking County Gramm ...

, helped devise a media strategy that enhanced the public image of Charles and Camilla's relationship. The pair orchestrated the media coverage of the prince's first photographed public appearance with Camilla at the Ritz Hotel in January 1999 (dubbed 'Operation Ritz'), and of Camilla's first meeting with the Queen in June 2000 at a private party at Highgrove House. A June 2000 article in ''The Times'' by

Andrew Pierce Andrew Pierce (born Patrick Connolly) is a British journalist, editor, author, broadcaster and political commentator. Early life Pierce was born in Bristol to a Roman Catholic Irish mother and an unknown father. He spent the first two years o ...

said that the media coverage of the meeting between the Queen and Camilla had marked 'the culmination of three years work by Bolland and Lamport' who since the divorce of Charles and Diana had 'worked tirelessly ever since on the public rehabilitation of Prince Charles and Parker Bowles...In the past week Parker Bowles has lost the loaded word mistress. She is now referred to as companion or even partner'.Andrew Pierce. "How the mistress became a partner.", ''The Times'', London, 9 June 2000. The first report of the Highgrove meeting was published in ''

The News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national red top tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling English-language newspaper, and at closure still had one o ...

'', then edited by Rebekah Brooks, a close friend of Bolland. An October 1998 article in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' called "The Prince's Circle" described Bolland as having been '...credited with "updating" the Prince's image' by encouraging Charles to meet the

Spice Girls The Spice Girls are a British girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Melanie Brown, also known as Mel B ("Scary Spice"); Melanie Chisholm, or Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"); Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"); Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice"); and ...

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the ...

, and

Peter Mandelson Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson (born 21 October 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who served as First Secretary of State from 2009 to 2010. He was President of the Board of Trade in 1998 and from 2008 to 2010. He is the ...

but also said that he was blamed for the negative publicity that resulted from

Penny Junor Penelope Jane Junor (born 6 October 1949) is an English journalist and author. Early life and education Born in Leatherhead, Surrey, Junor was educated at Benenden School in Kent. Her father was the newspaper editor Sir John Junor and her b ...

's biography of the prince, ''Charles: Victim or Villain?''. Bolland also helped the establishment of special media arrangements to safeguard the privacy of Charles's sons, princes

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

and

Harry Harry may refer to: TV shows * ''Harry'' (American TV series), a 1987 American comedy series starring Alan Arkin * ''Harry'' (British TV series), a 1993 BBC drama that ran for two seasons * ''Harry'' (talk show), a 2016 American daytime talk show ...

at school and university, and was reportedly nicknamed "

Blackadder ''Blackadder'' is a series of four period British sitcoms, plus several one-off instalments, which originally aired on BBC One from 1983 to 1989. All television episodes starred Rowan Atkinson as the antihero Edmund Blackadder and Tony Robins ...

" by the young princes. Lamport was replaced as the prince's Private Secretary by

Michael Peat Sir Michael Charles Gerrard Peat (born 16 November 1949) is an English retired accountant and courtier. He was the Principal Private Secretary to Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall between 2002 and 2011. Life and career P ...

in 2002 and Bolland later felt that he should have left at the same time. He was pressured to stay and remained in post, before becoming a consultant to the Palace for a short time, at which time he decided he needed to move on. His role was recognised by the PR industry in 2001 when he was awarded the prestigious ''

PR Week ''PRWeek'' is a trade magazine for the public relations industry. The original UK edition was the brainchild of the late Geoffrey Lace who at the time worked for Haymarket. After failing to interest Haymarket in his idea he left to launch it on ...

'' "Professional of the Year Award". A two part television series on Bolland's work for Charles, ''Reinventing the Royals'', was due to be broadcast on

BBC 2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream ...

in January 2014 but was postponed. The programme was written and presented by Steve Hewlett and was made without cooperation or the involvement of the royal family.

Post-royal work

In 2003, Bolland established a strategic communications consultancy, Mark Bolland & Associates, and advised a number of businesses, individuals and international foundations. Bolland has held numerous positions in the third sector, having joined the Journalists' Charity, which was known as ''The Newspaper Press Fund'' when it was first established, as its vice-president in 2007, and serving as a trustee of the Open Futures Trust from 2010 to 2014 and the Middlesbrough and Teesside Philanthropic Foundation from 2012 to 2014. Bolland has also served as a trustee of several high net worth family charitable foundations and trusts including the ''Helen Hamlyn Trust'' from 2008 to 2014, the David Ross Foundation from 2011 to present, and as director of the

Bertarelli Foundation The Bertarelli Foundation is a private foundation founded by the Bertarelli family; brother and sister Ernesto and Dona Bertarelli, who are co-Chairs of the Foundation, and their mother, Maria Iris Bertarelli. It was established in 1998 in memor ...

from 2013. Bolland wrote the "Restaurant Spy" column for ''ES'', the lifestyle magazine of the ''

London Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'' from 2006 to 2009, has contributed occasional articles for the ''

Mail on Sunday ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. It is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK and was launched in 1982 by Lord Rothermere. Its sister paper, the ''Daily Mail'', was first pub ...

'', and book reviews for the

British Journalism Review ''British Journalism Review'' is an opinionated quarterly journal covering the field of journalism. The journal's editor is Kim Fletcher who is supported by an editorial board of journalists and journalism academics. It was established in 1989 and ...

, and wrote a column for the ''News of the World'' under the

byline The byline (or by-line in British English) on a newspaper or magazine article gives the name of the writer of the article. Bylines are commonly placed between the headline and the text of the article, although some magazines (notably '' Reader' ...

of 'Blackadder'. He has also appeared on '' Newsnight Review''. In June 2011 ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' alleged that Bolland was closely linked to organised efforts to remove information from the

English Wikipedia The English Wikipedia is, along with the Simple English Wikipedia, one of two English-language editions of Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia. It was founded on January 15, 2001, as Wikipedia's first edition, and, as of , has the most arti ...

articles of the clients of his firm including Edward Stanley, 19th Earl of Derby, David Ross, Maan Al-Sanea, and Bolland's partner, Guy Black. A single

IP address An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label such as that is connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication.. Updated by . An IP address serves two main functions: network interface ident ...

in Clerkenwell, the location of Mark Bolland & Associates, had made several edits to the articles. In 2014, Bolland was named as one of London's most 1000 influential people by the ''Evening Standard''. Bolland is a member of the Garrick Club.

Personal life

Bolland entered a

civil partnership A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...

with his partner Guy Black in February 2006 at Islington Town Hall, in a ceremony witnessed by Murdoch MacLennan, the chief executive of the

Telegraph Media Group Telegraph Media Group Limited (TMG; previously the Telegraph Group) is the proprietor of ''The Daily Telegraph'' and ''The Sunday Telegraph''. It is a subsidiary of Press Holdings. David and Frederick Barclay acquired the group on 30 July 2004, ...

, and Rebekah Brooks, then editor of '' The Sun''. On 22 June 2015, the couple married, again at Islington Town Hall. The couple live in

Clerkenwell Clerkenwell () is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an ancient parish from the mediaeval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The well after which it was named was redis ...

and have a home in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Black was the former Press Secretary to

Michael Howard Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne (born Michael Hecht; 7 July 1941) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005. He previously held cabinet posit ...

during Howard's period as leader of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

, and presently serves as the Deputy Chairman of the Telegraph Media Group and Chairman of the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including perform ...

. Black was created a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

in 2010 as Baron Black of Brentwood, and sits as a Conservative member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...

In popular culture

Bolland is portrayed by Ben Lloyd-Hughes in season 5 of ''

The Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has differ ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolland, Mark 1966 births Living people Alumni of the University of York British public relations people Canadian LGBT businesspeople English LGBT people Members of the Household of the Prince of Wales Businesspeople from Toronto British LGBT civil servants Spouses of life peers British LGBT businesspeople