George Norton

Lieutenant General Sir George Pemberton Ross Norton, (born 27 November 1962) is a retired British Army officer. He was the UK Military Representative to NATO from 2016 to 2020, and has served as the Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies since 2020.

Military career After being educated at Radley College and St John's College, Cambridge, Norton studied at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards on 1 July 1984. Promoted to captain on 27 November 1987, he attended the Military Academy of the German Armed Forces in Hamburg in 1993,

Norton was deployed to Bosnia and Herzegovina as Military Assistant to the Chief of Staff within Headquarters Implementation Force (IFOR) in 1997, he joined the directing staff at the Joint Services Command and Staff College that year, he was deployed to Afghanistan as Director Plans and Policy within the Combined Forces Command Afghanistan. Norton went on to be commander of the 38th (Irish) Brigade in Northern Ireland in June 2007, and commander of British troops there in January 2009, before being made Deputy Regional Commander in Helmand Province in early 2010.

Promoted to major general on 8 July 2011, Norton became General Officer Commanding London District and Major-General commanding the Household Division on the same date. He became regimental lieutenant colonel of the Grenadier Guards on 10 June 2012. He was present at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations in June 2012, and the London Olympics in August 2012.

Norton was appointed a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order on 25 June 2013, Serving in Northern Italy, he went on to be Deputy Commander NATO Rapid Deployable Corps - Italy in Solbiate Olona in July 2013. and to the European Union in July 2016. Norton retired from the British Army on 16 June 2020.

Later career

Norton became Commandant Royal College of Defence Studies on 21 July 2020. On 20 August 2021, he was appointed Lieutenant of the Tower of London.

Honours and awards