This is the office of Sir Michael Peat, Principal Private Secretary to The Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales. He is the head of the Prince’s household – which is based in Clarence House, set within the Tudor surroundings of St James’s Palace. Designed by John Nash and built between 1825 and ’27, Clarence House faces St James’s Park to the west and The Mall to the south. It is an orb’s throw from Buckingham Palace.

 

Sir Michael describes the Prince as the 100% shareholder, chairman and chief executive of the organisation which is centred upon Clarence House. ‘What he is doing is adding value to his position as heir to the throne, to make a difference for the better – both in this country first of all, and internationally,’ Sir Michael explains. ‘And he has a remarkable knack of being able to put his finger on issues of fundamental and long-term importance.’

 

No one can doubt the Prince’s commitment. His workload is phenomenal; he undertakes an average of more than two official engagements every day of the year, weekends included. During 2009, directly and directly, his work has raised £130 million for charity – and yes, you did read that correctly; £130,000,000.   

The title of Prince of Wales dates back to 1307, when Edward I created the honour for his son, who became Edward II. The title was to go to the heir apparent of English monarchs in perpetuity, together with the income from the lands of the Duchy of Cornwall – ensuring that the heir always had an independent income. So it’s a medieval job title, but there has never been a written job description, and each Prince of Wales, across the last 700 years (and Prince Charles is the twenty-first), has interpreted the role differently. The challenge for Prince Charles, who became Prince of Wales in 1969, was to create a job description appropriate to the late Twentieth century and the early Twenty-first.

 

One key role – one which few of his predecessors would recognise – lies in being so heavily involved with charitable organisations. There are twenty ‘core’ charities, and these stretch from ones involved with education and the arts, to those for which he is best known – the environment and The Prince’s Trust.

Prince Charles founded the Trust, at his own initiative, back in 1976, when he left the Navy. Since then it has helped more than 600,000 young people, and, in assisting young entrepreneurs (here comes another amazing statistic) facilitates around 11% of all company start-ups in the UK. It also organises clubs in schools for pupils having difficulties with their studies, and funds programmes to get young people into employment or training. The Prince is particularly concerned by the alarming fact that one in five young people in Britain is not in work, education or training; but unlike the rest of us, who merely moan about ‘young people nowadays’ he can truly be said to have taken action and made a real difference.

 

The Prince has a number of long-standing connections with the business world. One of these, Business In The Environment trains business men and women in environmental concerns – often to the advantage of their commercial activities. He sponsors The Cambridge Programme For Sustainable Leadership, which organises forums, policy groups and leadership seminars to further knit environmental issues into good business practise.

 

In addition to his on-going interests, the Prince initiates one-off projects. You might allow yourself a small groan at the mention of the destruction of the rain forests, but Sir Michael – who never fails to impress by being able to call up every fact and statistic instantly – explains why the forests’ preservation is so important; ‘The destruction and burning of the rain forests contributes 18% of all greenhouses gases annually. That’s more than all forms of transportation combined.

 

‘There is a secondary issue though; the rain forests provide a huge amount of the world’s desalinated water supplies. The Amazon forests alone put more than two billion tons of water vapour into the air every day. If you cut down the rain forests you both create massive amounts of damaging gases, and lose the fresh water needed for growing food.’

 

In all this Sir Michael talks with both knowledge and very genuine passion. He obviously shares the deeply-held concerns of his master, and is far from the idea of an obsequious courtier merely nodding in agreement with whatever his boss says. 

 

What comes as something of a surprise is to learn that Sir Michael is also a non-executive director of the Arbuthnot Group, the controlling firm behind Arbuthnot Latham. ‘It might be thought unusual, but in fact it is the sort of thing we do quite often’, Sir Michael says, ‘It’s good that we stay closely in touch with the outside world, and we must continue to learn and keep pace with events. Several of us do have similar engagements with a range of external organisations. Similarly we often have people seconded to us from companies and government.’

 

Sir Michael was attracted to Arbuthnot Latham, he adds, because he wanted to be associated with ‘a quality organisation – one that was well, and prudently, run.’

 

This isn’t a grace and favour role for Sir Michael; he is an accountant by training. Born sixty years ago and educated at Eton, Trinity college, Oxford, and INSEAD in Fontainebleau, Sir Michael. He joined KPMG Peat Marwick McLintock in 1972, becoming a partner in 1985.

 

‘Arbuthnot Latham has extremely good capital reserves and liquidity ratios, and has been well managed. It has never been involved in the trading of toxic assets or sub-prime loans. It believes in traditional banking and providing a high quality personal service, and has prospered as a result.

 

‘The great advantage that smaller banks have is that they are able to provide a specialist service. When you don’t have so many clients it is easier to value and nurture those clients.’

 

Although banking is truly international nowadays, Sir Michael is certain that Arbuthnot Latham’s heritage still means a lot; ‘Clients do like the fact that the bank has been around for a long time’, he says, ‘And has had a reputation for security and reliability for centuries. It’s a testimony to the service it provides.’

 

Sir Michael insists that it’s crucial that he gets out of his office – comfortable as it is – to maintain the connection with the wider world; ‘It’s so important that we here at Clarence House are not just talking about these things, but – like the Prince – are getting out there and are participating in whatever way we can … and helping’.