Charles Guthrie, Baron Guthrie of Craigiebank

Field Marshal Charles Ronald Llewelyn Guthrie, Baron Guthrie of Craigiebank, (born 17 November 1938) is a retired senior officer of the British Army who served as Chief of the General Staff from 1994 to 1997 and Chief of the Defence Staff from 1997 until his retirement in 2001.

Guthrie's military career saw service with the Welsh Guards and the Special Air Service; he was closely involved in military operations in Northern Ireland and provided advice to the British Government during the Bosnian War and the Kosovo War.

Born in Chelsea, London into a Scottish landed family, Guthrie was the elder son of Major Ronald Guthrie and Nina née Llewelyn.

He was educated at Harrow School and the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.

As an Old Harrovian, and due to his seniority in the British Army, Harrow School's Combined Cadet Force contingent, the Harrow Rifle Corps, chose to name an annual inter-CCF competition in Guthrie's honour.

The Guthrie Cup is a Section patrol competition, run for school CCFs in London District, supported by adult volunteers and cadets from the Harrow Rifle Corps and local Army Cadet Force detachments.

Guthrie was commissioned into the Welsh Guards on 25 July 1959.

He was promoted to lieutenant on 1 June 1961 and captain on 25 July 1965.

In 1966 he became a troop commander with 22 Special Air Service Regiment serving in Aden, the Persian Gulf, Malaysia and East Africa and then in 1968 he became a squadron commander with 22 Special Air Service Regiment serving in the Persian Gulf and the United Kingdom.

He returned to the Welsh Guards in Münster in 1970 and, following his promotion to major on 31 December 1970, he was given command of a mechanised infantry company in the 1st Battalion.

He became Military Assistant to the Chief of the General Staff in 1973 and, following a year as Second in Command of 1st Battalion Welsh Guards in London and Cyprus and having been promoted to lieutenant colonel on 31 December 1975, he became brigade major for the Household Division in 1976.

Guthrie was appointed commanding officer of 1st Battalion Welsh Guards in 1977 in which role he was deployed to Berlin.

Promoted to colonel on 31 December 1979, he undertook a tour of duty in Northern Ireland in Spring 1980 for which he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

In 1980 he was also briefly Commander of British Forces in the New Hebrides.

He then spent two years as Colonel on the General Staff for Military Operations at the Ministry of Defence.

Promoted to brigadier on 31 December 1981, he became Brigade Commander of 4th Armoured Brigade in 1982.

Guthrie was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO fourth class) in the 1977 Silver Jubilee and Birthday Honours; on 31 December 1984 this rank was reclassified as Lieutenant (LVO).

In 1984 he was made chief of staff for 1st British Corps in Bielefeld.

Following his appointment as general officer commanding (GOC) North East District and Commander 2nd Infantry Division based in York on 18 January 1986, he was given the substantive rank of major general on 31 March 1986.

Guthrie was appointed Colonel Commandant of the Intelligence Corps on 1 March 1986 and Colonel Commandant of the Special Air Service in 2000.

On 24 November 1987, Guthrie became Assistant Chief of the General Staff at the Ministry of Defence.

On 2 October 1989 he was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed GOC 1st British Corps, and, having been appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 1990 New Year Honours, he relinquished his command on 2 December 1991.

Guthrie was appointed Commander of Northern Army Group and British Army of the Rhine on 7 January 1992 and, following promotion to (full) general on 14 February 1992, became ADC to the Queen on 13 July 1993.

Guthrie then became Chief of the General Staff (CGS) on 15 March 1994, being advanced to a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in the Queen's Birthday Honours 1994.

As CGS, he was responsible for providing strategic military advice to the British Government on the deployment of troops for the Bosnian War, and also in 1996 updated the British Military Doctrine.

Guthrie went on to become Chief of the Defence Staff on 2 April 1997.

In that position, he advised the British Government on the conduct of the Kosovo War.

He also warned against a British invasion of Zimbabwe to undertake regime change against Robert Mugabe, saying "Hold hard, you'll make it worse."

For twenty years he served as Colonel of The Life Guards and Gold Stick-in-Waiting to The Queen, from 1 January 1999 to 7 June 2019.

Guthrie retired from the British Army in 2001.

After retiring from the British Army, he was created a life peer as Baron Guthrie of Craigiebank, of Craigiebank in the Dundee City council area, in June 2001.

Lord Guthrie sat as a crossbencher in the House of Lords.

He was one of several retired Chiefs of Defence Staff who spoke out in the House of Lords about the risk to servicemen facing liability for their actions before the International Criminal Court, particularly with respect to the invasion of Iraq.

George Monbiot criticised Guthrie for an alleged lack of understanding of international law.

Monbiot based his argument on Guthrie's September 2002 statement for an invasion of Iraq and subsequent comments, in which he appeared to support launching "surprise wars", something forbidden by the United Nations Charter.

In 2007 Guthrie co-authored a book on ethics in modern warfare with Sir Michael Quinlan, formerly Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence.

Guthrie disagreed publicly with Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2008 over military funding.

He is also a member of the Top Level Group of UK Parliamentarians for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-proliferation, established in October 2009.

Guthrie was promoted to the honorary rank of field marshal in June 2012.

Guthrie has served as a non-executive director of Gulf Keystone Petroleum, Rivada Networks, Ashley Gardens Block 2 Ltd, Colt Defense LLC and Sciens Capital; he has served as a director of N M Rothschild & Sons, Gulf Keystone, and Petropavlovsk PLC; he has served as a non-executive chairman of Siboney Ltd.; he has been a shareholder of Palantir Technologies and the global strategic intelligence firm Arcanum, which is a subsidiary of Magellen Investment Holdings.