Address by Sir Richard Luce

Address by Sir Richard Luce to a service of thanksgiving in Westminster Abbey to mark the end of HM Overseas Civil Service, the centenary of the Corona Club and the golden jubilee of Corona Worldwide, 25th May 1999.

Richard Napier, Baron Luce of Adur, Sussex (b 1936), GCVO (2000), Kt (1991), PC (1986) was educated at Wellington College, and at Christ's College, Cambridge, working as a National Service officer, 1955-1957. He then joined the Overseas Civil Service as district officer, Kenya, 1960-1962.

From 1963 to 1965 he worked as Brand Manager, Gallaher Ltd., then Marketing Manager, Spirella Co. of Great Britain, [c1965-1968?], and Director, National Innovations Centre, 1968-1971. He was a member of the European Advertising Board, Corning Glass International, 1975-1979, Director, Booker Tate, 1991-1996 [and] Meridian Broadcasting, 1991-1996, and Vice-Chancellor, University of Buckingham, 1992-1996.

He was Conservative MP for Arundel and Shoreham, 1971-1974 and for Shoreham, 1974-1992, Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister for Trade and Consumer Affairs, 1972-1974, an Opposition Whip, 1974-1975 and an Opposition spokesman on foreign and Commonwealth affairs, 1977-1979. He served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, 1979-1981, Minister of State, 1981-1982 and 1983-1985, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and Minister of State, Privy Council Office (Minister for the Arts), 1985-1990. He was Governor and Commander-in-Chief, Gibraltar, 1997-2000.

He held the post of Chairman, Commonwealth Foundation, 1992-1996 and Atlantic Council of the UK, 1993-1996, became a member of the Royal Mint Advisory Committee in 2000, President of the Voluntary Art Network in 1993 and the Royal Over-Seas League in 2002. He became Governor of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1994, a member of the Board of Trustees, Royal Collection Trust in 2000, a trustee of the Geographers' A-Z Map Trust in 1993 and an emeritus trustee of the Royal Academy in 2001.

In 1961 he married Rose Nicholson, with whom he had two sons.

The Corona Club was set up in 1900 to provide a dining club and meeting place for existing and former members of the Colonial Service. Corona Worldwide was established in 1949 to support wives and children living in overseas colonial territories.

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