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Auction: 23002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 151

Sold by Order of a Direct Descendant

A 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards side drum presented to Lieutenant-Colonel Sir J. F. D. Johnston, G.C.V.O., M.C., Grenadier Guards and Comptroller of the Lord Chamberlain's Office

1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards side drum, with battle honours from Tangier 1680 through to Mont Pincon, by George Potter & Co., with rope webbing and set of drum sticks, the top rim with plaque stating 'Presented to Lt. Col. J. F. D. Johnston MC by the W.O.'s, S/Sgt's & Sgts 1st Bn Grenadier Guards on his leaving the Battalion, June 1964', very fine

His obituary published in The Telegraph gives good detail:

'Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Johnston, who died on Sunday aged 84, was one of the Queen's most popular courtiers and a key figure at the Lord Chamberlain's Office, where he was Assistant Comptroller and later Comptroller between 1964 and 1987.

Combining military attention to detail with imagination and foresight, he brought an instinctive appreciation of the theatrical to rigid ceremonial. Though sometimes known as "Stopwatch Johnnie", he had a sense of humour and a lightness of touch which enhanced many a royal occasion.

Johnston will best be remembered by the public for presiding over the Prince of Wales's wedding to Lady Diana Spencer in 1981, when he was on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral to see the bride out of her carriage, and for the occasion when, in his Grenadier Guards uniform, he stood beside the Queen on Horse Guards Parade, holding her handbag.

John Frederick Dame Johnston was born in Burma on August 24 1922, the son of Frederick Horace Johnston, of Fairways, Ferndown, Dorset. A Roman Catholic, he was educated at Ampleforth, where the late Cardinal Hume was a friend; Hume was dining with the Johnstons when he received the telephone call inviting him to become Archbishop of Westminster.

After Sandhurst Johnston was posted to the 4th Battalion, Grenadier Guards; his first job as a troop leader was to mould infantry guardsmen into three teams of tank crews. He was posted to 3 Squadron, then commanded 12 Troop for nearly three years.

Equipped with Churchill tanks, it spent a year training for the D-Day landings in various parts of England. In 1943 Princess Elizabeth visited the battalion on her first solo engagement, and the following year the King inspected Johnston's tank at Welbeck. Since his troop was deployed to make the Germans believe the Pas de Calais was to be invaded, he did not land in Normandy until six weeks after the first landings.

Nicknamed "The Churchill Butchers" by the infantry, the battalion pressed on through Belgium and Holland then crossed into Germany at Minden. Johnston was helping to navigate in the dark when he was knocked off his tank by an overhanging branch and almost run over by the tank behind.

He was mentioned in dispatches for spotting some anti-tank mines beneath the snow, and dismounting from his tank to remove them. But seeing a wounded infantryman lying in the road on April 21 1945, he looked out of his tank and was wounded in the head, ending up in a Brussels hospital. He spent VE Day recuperating at Knocke-sur-Mer.

After leave in England, he disregarded orders to return to the convalescent depot and rejoined his regiment in Schleswig-Holstein. He served in Germany for a further 18 months, returning home with the award of a Military Cross. In his privately printed Memoirs of a Tank Troop Leader, he concluded: "War is unpleasant, but there are some lighter moments to look back on. We all had fear but training for battle helped to lessen that fear. One jolly well got on with it, and the adrenalin would flow when things were going well. The hardest part was the apprehension before going into action."

Remaining in the Grenadiers after the war, Johnston married, in 1949, Elizabeth Hardinge, the younger daughter of the 2nd Lord Hardinge of Penshurst, former Private Secretary to King George VI, whom he had met at Welbeck when she was visiting her sister, who was married to a brother officer.

In 1962 Johnston led the royal procession at Trooping the Colour as brigade-major, Household Brigade, after being rapidly taught to ride a horse. He commanded his battalion in Germany until July 1964, when he retired from the Army to become Assistant Comptroller in the Lord Chamberlain's Office; he succeeded Sir Eric Penn as Comptroller in 1981, not long before the Royal Wedding.

As such he was closely involved with royal ceremonial, arranging weddings, funerals, garden parties, investitures and programmes for State Visits by overseas Heads of State. In those days the job included the administration of the royal palaces and the Royal Collection. He had responsibility for the Central Chancery of Knighthood, the Lords-in-Waiting, the Gentlemen at Arms, Yeomen of the Guard, Royal Company of Archers as well as the Queen's Barge-master and the Royal Watermen; he also supervised the annual "swan upping".

In addition Johnston had jurisdiction over royal styles and titles (which often brought him into conflict with the College of Arms); the granting of Royal Warrants and matters of precedence; and the licensing of the use of royal arms on souvenirs and commemorative objects (in those days rather strictly observed).

During his 23 years at the Lord Chamberlain's Office, his duties included receiving the Beatles when they came for their MBEs, the royal attendance at the State Funeral of Sir Winston Churchill, the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977 and the funerals of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. In 1965 he was appointed an Extra Equerry to the Queen.

Until 1968 the Lord Chamberlain was required to licence plays and theatres under the Theatres Act of 1843. This involved censoring plays. Johnston was closely involved in the work, which he described in his entertaining book, The Lord Chamberlain's Blue Pencil (1990).

Plays were first read by Examiners, who produced a synopsis and sometimes recommended cuts. Johnston then read the works, adding his own suggestions. In most instances, the cuts were agreed and the licence granted, but sometimes the producers or directors came in to talk it over, and there was a certain amount of give and take. Some subjects were taboo. God was banned on stage until 1966; royalty and the recently deceased could prove a problem.

Actresses were allowed to be nude on stage so long as they were motionless, expressionless, artistic and dimly lit. Johnston recalled that there was never a shortage of volunteers from the office to pay a visit to the Windmill Theatre to check that the nudes were static. When his censorship duties came to an end (rightly in his opinion), he missed hearing the lady clerk ring up the theatre managers, blushing as she read out the disallowed lines.

Johnston was president of King George's Pension Fund for Actors and Actresses, and he enjoyed his Christmas visits to Denville Hall and the theatrical delight with which the monetary gifts were received by the retired thespians. He was chairman of the Combined Theatrical Charities Appeal Council and a director of the Theatre Royal, Windsor.

In 1969 he was one of those responsible for the founding of the Windsor Festival, and oversaw the concerts in the State Apartments.

For many years he and his wife lived at Adelaide Cottage in the Home Park at Windsor, and held open house for many members of the Royal Family when they were staying at the castle for Christmas. In the early 1970s they found a cottage in west Wales, where they spent their holidays. A dog lover, he was president of Hearing Dogs for Deaf People.

On retiring in 1987 Johnston made a memorable speech, in which he said that when he arrived in 1964 he had been called "Golden Delicious" but had lately heard himself referred to as "Grumpy Chops"; so he knew it was time to go.

In retirement the Johnstons lived in a house near Cumberland Lodge in Windsor Great Park. He helped to oversee the rewiring of Windsor Castle, for which he had the deepest love, and was a "weeder", sifting out unwanted material in the Royal Archives.

In April this year, he took part in Sue McGregor's Radio 4 programme, The Reunion, in which key figures involved in the Royal Wedding were brought together. Johnston recalled in it that he had button-sewers and regimental brushers to ensure that those who arrived in uniform could be tidied up. (Prince Andrew's uniform required especially energetic brushing).

He explained that he was determined to have a gap between the ecclesiastical procession and the bride's procession. When he detained the latter just inside the doors of the cathedral, Lord Spencer was champing at the bit, so Johnston told him: "I'll let you know when you can go." Lady Diana Spencer then said to him: "You've been telling me that for the last six weeks. You haven't told me how I look." He paused then said: "You look wonderful." And, with that, he set them off up the aisle.

When he congratulated the bride after the service, she bestowed a kiss on him privately in the cathedral and again more publicly at Waterloo station.

Sir John Johnston was appointed MVO in 1971, CVO in 1977, KCVO in 1981 and GCVO in 1987. He was a great favourite with the Royal Family. The Queen Mother always invited him to her birthday lunch at Clarence House, and he was a regular visitor to Birkhall.

Above all, he was steadfast in his devotion to the Queen.

His wife died in 1995, and he is survived by his son and daughter.'

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Sold for
£850

Starting price
£300