John Michael Evison Parker , CVO ( John Michael Avison Parker ; June 23, 1920 , Melbourne - December 29, 2001 , ibid.) - Lieutenant Commander of the Royal Australian Navy , personal secretary of the Duke of Edinburgh in 1947 - 1957 .
| Michael parker | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of Birth | June 23, 1920 | ||
| Place of Birth | Melbourne | ||
| Date of death | December 29, 2001 (81 years old) | ||
| Place of death | Melbourne | ||
| Awards and prizes |
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Content
Biography
John Michael Evison Parker was born on June 23, 1920 in Melbourne [1] in the family of captain S. A. Parker. Educated at Javier College in Melbourne.
Parker served in the Royal Australian Navy, and then in the Royal Navy , between 1938 and 1947, reaching the rank of lieutenant commander.
He first met Prince Philip in 1942 when he was assigned to the Wallace destroyer as a sub-lieutenant. In 1947, Parker joined the family of the Duke of Edinburgh as personal secretary, initially part-time. He also became the equestrian of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh .
In 1952, Parker was in Kenya with a royal couple and told them the news about the death of King George VI . Parker became the personal secretary of the duke. They were close friends and members of a gentlemen's club known as the Thursday Club. Parker became a member of the Royal Victorian Order in 1953 and was granted commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1957. He accompanied the Duke on his 1956 five-month world tour aboard the HMY Britannia .
Parker's divorce in 1958, which was widely reported in the media, forced him to resign as personal secretary. James Orr took over his post. [2] Parker remained in contact with the duke for the rest of his life. He worked for Lockheed Aircraft Corporation and for Leo Burnett Worldwide, an advertising agency. He returned to Australia in the late 1960s and was chairman of Australian dredging and general services, as well as director of Spoerry.
In 1996, Michael Parker was granted membership in the Order of Australia .
Parker died on December 29, 2001 in Melbourne [3] .
Personal life
Parker married Eileen Allan in 1943. Soon they had a son and a daughter. The marriage was dissolved in 1958. In 1982, Eileen wrote a book called Step Aside for Royalty, in which she claimed that her husband and the Duke of Edinburgh used the pseudonyms Murgatroyd and Winterbottom for “galling from the palace” [4] [5] . Parker denied these allegations.
In 1962, Parker married Carol Parker Thompson, with whom they had another daughter and son, the marriage was dissolved [3] .
In 1976, Parker married Gene Ramsey, who died in 2001.
In pop culture
Parker was portrayed by Daniel Ings in the series “The Crown” ( Netflix ) [6] .
Notes
- ↑ Commander Michael Parker . The Telegraph (2 January 2002). Date of treatment December 9, 2017.
- ↑ Tim Heald. James Orr: Private Secretary to Prince Philip . The Independent (1 September 2008). - Obituary. Date of treatment December 12, 2017. Archived on May 28, 2011.
- ↑ 1 2 Tim Heald. Commander Michael Parker The Independent (January 4, 2002). - Obituary. Date of treatment December 9, 2017.
- ↑ Hannah Lazatin. Sex and Drugs Put a Strain on the British Monarchy in the 1950s . Town and Country (December 8, 2017). Date of treatment December 9, 2017.
- ↑ Davies, Nicholas. Elizabeth II: Behind Palace Doors . - Random House, 2013.
- ↑ Eleanor Bley Griffiths. The Crown: Who was Prince Philip's right hand man Mike Parker? (eng.) . Radio Times (December 8, 2017). Date of treatment December 9, 2017.