The Commissioners

Commissioners and Staff at Tyne Cot Cemetery, Belgium

The governing body of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission is the Commission itself. The President of the Commission is His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent, and the Secretary of State for Defence in the United Kingdom is its Chairman. Members of the Commission include the High Commissioners of the member governments, as well as nine others chosen for their distinguished roles in public life and appointed under Royal Warrant by Her Majesty The Queen.

Under the Vice-Chairman, selected from the Commissioners, they meet four times a year, usually in Maidenhead, United Kingdom, to agree a corporate plan and monitor progress against it, to agree levels of funding, and to discuss any issues bearing on the Commission and its task.

In recent years meetings of the Commission, combined with visits to cemeteries and memorials, have also been held in France, Belgium, Italy and Turkey as well as central England. These have enabled Commissioners to discuss aspects of the Commission’s work with staff in greater detail and to gain a greater appreciation of the extent and nature of the organisation’s task.

Commissioners also serve on the membership of the Commission’s main Joint Committees (Belgium, French, German-French, Italian and Netherlands) which meet, in rotation, once every five years, whilst they also undertake representative duties for the Commission at remembrance services and ceremonies. Outside of their official duties Commissioners also take the opportunity to visit Commission sites around the world when on other business or on private holidays.

THE COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION

President HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF KENT KG GCMG GCVO ADC His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent with Commissioners in Maidenhead Chairman The Secretary of State for Defence in the United Kingdom The Rt Hon GEOFFREY HOON MP Vice-Chairman General Sir JOHN WILSEY GCB CBE DL Members The High Commissioner for Canada His Excellency Mr JEREMY KINSMAN The High Commissioner for New Zealand His Excellency The Hon RUSSELL MARSHALL

Members (Cont.) The High Commissioner for the Republic of India His Excellency Mr NARESHWAR DAYAL The High Commissioner of the Republic of South Africa Her Excellency Ms LINDEWE MABUZA The High Commissioner for Australia His Excellency Mr MICHAEL L’ESTRANGE Baroness GOLDING of NEWCASTLE-UNDER-LYME Mr JOHN WILKINSON MP Sir JOHN GRAY KBE CMG Mr PAUL ORCHARD-LISLE CBE TD DL Air Chief Marshal Sir MICHAEL STEAR KCB CBE DL MA FRAeS Dame SUSAN TINSON DBE Admiral Sir PETER ABBOTT GBE KCB Sir JOHN KEEGAN OBE Secretary Mr RICHARD KELLAWAY