Anthony Montague Browne

Sir Anthony Arthur Duncan Montague Browne (8 May 1923 – 1 April 2013) was a British diplomat who was private secretary to Sir Winston Churchill during the last ten years of the latter's life.

Montague Browne was the biological father of Justin Welby, the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury, but Welby learned that only after paternity testing had been taken after Montague Browne's death.

Early life Montague Browne was the son of Andrew Duncan Montague Browne (1878–1969), a British army colonel, by his marriage to Violet Evelyn Downes (1883–1969). He was educated in Switzerland and then at Stowe School, where he refused to join the Officers' Training Corps until World War II had broken out in September 1939.

Second World War RAF service In September 1941, Montague Browne went up to Magdalen College, Oxford, In May 1945, he was promoted a flight lieutenant.

Foreign Office After returning to Magdalen College, Oxford, for a year, His first post was as private secretary to the then Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Sir Orme "Moley" Sargent. After a period as the Foreign Office resident clerk (the political night duty officer), he was assigned to the Western Union Secretariat, which led the UK drafting of the North Atlantic Treaty.

In November 1949 he was posted to the British Embassy in Paris, France, partly because of his knowledge of French, which was developed during his schooling in Switzerland. When Churchill retired in 1955, Montague Browne briefly returned to the Foreign Office but in the same year was seconded to continue as Churchill's private secretary. He stayed with Churchill for the rest of Churchill's life. At first, Churchill was doubtful of him and observed, "I dare say we will get on very well together". After Churchill's fall in Monaco in June 1962 when he broke his hip, Montague Browne arranged and accompanied him on the RAF flight back to London to assure, as Churchill wished, that if he died, he would die in England. In 1965, on Churchill's death on 24 January, Montague Brown witnessed Churchill's death certificate and liaised between his family and the government regarding Churchill's funeral arrangements. offered further affectionate, if carefully discreet, insights into the statesman's final years.

Personal life

Montague Browne married twice. His first marriage, in 1950 (dissolved 1970), took place in Cheltenham and was to Noel "Nonie" Arnold-Wallinger. He had one daughter from his first marriage. He married secondly, towards the end of 1970 in Wandsworth, Shelagh Macklin (née Mulligan), the former wife of racing driver Lance Macklin.

While working for Churchill, Montague Browne had an affair with Jane Gillian Portal (1929−2023), one of Churchill's personal secretaries, from 1949 until her marriage to Gavin Welby on 4 April 1955 (Jane Portal later married Charles Williams). In 2016, DNA tests showed he was the biological father of her son, Justin Welby, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, who was born on 6 January 1956.

Montague Browne died at his home in Bucklebury, West Berkshire, on 1 April 2013.

Honours Montague Browne was appointed OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 1955 after Churchill's retirement, CBE in 1965 after Churchill's death, and knighted KCMG in 2000 "for long and distinguished public service".

Publications

References and sources