Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2009/January 2010 | Page 29

INTERVIEW

Martin pictured with Prince Edward 2008

life

Martin pictured with Prince Charles 2009

Behind the public face
Lord Lieutenant Martin White has retired. But it’s not retirement as we know it,
as he tells Roz Whistance
SOMETIMES, when you’re interviewing
the great and the good, it’s best to

reducing budgets.”

Lord-Lieutenant.

Following the Gulf War, Martin after

What he did next, on promotion to

be honest. “I don’t know what a Lord

a further stint in Germany was sent to

major general, was a job he describes

Lieutenant does,” I confessed.

the Royal College of Defence Studies in

as “unforgettable.” He was working for

“Neither do I,” was the rejoinder,

London. As with all the other changes in

Nato, in Heidelberg, a place of great

from the Lord Lieutenant. “I’ll be doing

his life to date, Martin relished the move.

beauty. “We lived right down by the

it for another ten years, I’ll let you know

Moving from the thick of the action to

river looking across at Heidelberg castle.

then!”

the relative tranquillity of the College in

The boys were just about at the end of

Belgrave Square appealed to his sense

University and Anna was starting. I was

characteristic of Martin White’s life. We

Change and adaptation has been a

of comradeship, and to his intellect.

working in a headquarters with seven

left him last in the early 1990s, in the

“It was an international college, and it

different nationalities.” Again, you feel

first Gulf War, where, as a Colonel and
during the conflict promoted to Brigadier
by General Sir Peter de la Billiere, he
had the responsibility of overseeing the
movement of UK forces into Saudi Arabia

that the fairytale setting and the truly

‘I’m the first to say
hello and the last to say
farewell’

and commanding the logistic support to
the ground war.

international company are factors of
equal importance.
Martin then went on to run his own
Corps, the Royal Logistic Corps. With a
budget in excess of £400M he was the

took people at a senior level from all

professional head of an organisation of

three Services, the Civil Service, defence

16000 regular and 11000 TA soldiers, the

advance of technology, which, hand

industry and the police,” he explains.

largest Corps in the Army.

in hand with the tearing down of the

“You learn how the Nation functions at

and a half years, in 1998, he retired.

Berlin Wall, represented a watershed for

the strategic level from those involved.”

He had witnessed the almost daily

international relations.
“The armed forces were at the leading

What particularly appealed was the

And after two

Maybe a new word should be coined
when talking about the sort of retirement

fact that the 80 or so officers, many of

lived by people such as Martin White,

edge of all that, trying to manage

whom he is still in contact with, were

something that doesn’t suggest feet up or

the repercussions: the growth of

from almost 40 different countries.”That

daytime telly.

terrorism, which in turn led to changes

in itself is an amazing experience, and

in equipment, a change in what we

establishes a worldwide network based

to consultants Deloittes, and Ernst &

were required to do, the explosion in

on friendship and shared study. “Having

Young, helping with their national and

communications and the impact of

exposure at that level stands you in

international defence businesses. He

the media set against a background of

good stead whatever you do,” says the

wasn’t free of regimental responsibility:

He went to work as military adviser

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