Please note that while Charles is a Trustee, he is not based at Cumberland Lodge.
Charles Anson joined the Trustees of Cumberland Lodge in February 2017. He is a Vice Chairman of the international financial communications consultancy, Cubitt Consulting, and he has also served as a non-executive director of Siren Communications for more than a decade. He was a lay member of the UK Press Complaints Commission from 2012-14.
Prior to that, Charles worked as a Director of Communications for the investment bank Kleinwort Benson, for Grand Metropolitan plc (now Diageo plc), and for Hilton International. His specialisms in corporate communications include media relations, brand building and reputational management. From 1990-97, he was Press Secretary to Her Majesty The Queen, and from 1978-81 he served in the Downing Street Press Office under two successive Prime Ministers, Margaret Thatcher and James Callaghan. Prior to that, he served for 20 years as a diplomat in the British Diplomatic Service, with postings to Washington and to Tehran, before and during the Iranian Revolution of 1978-79.
Charles read History at Jesus College, Cambridge, before undertaking a one-year diploma in international relations at the John Hopkins School for International Studies (SAIS) in Bologna, Italy. He lives in Sussex and is married to Juliet Nicolson, the author and social historian. His interests include the countryside, gardening, tennis and travel. He is a member of the National Trust Advisory Board for London and the South East and is a trustee of the Sussex Heritage Trust, which runs the Sussex Heritage Trust Awards for outstanding architectural designs in Sussex.