James Peill

James van Someren Peill (born 1971), is a British author and historian, who since 2024 serves at the College of Arms in London as an officer of arms and member of the Royal Household. Since July 2026, he has served as Garter Principal King of Arms.

Biography Early life Brought up in Herefordshire, Peill attended Monmouth School where he was Captain of Boats, before going up to read History of Art at the University of Edinburgh, graduating MA in 1994.

Career Peill joined Christie's as a graduate trainee in London specialising in furniture and worked as an auctioneer in New York, becoming a director, until 2008. Recruited in 2009 by the 10th Duke of Richmond, Lennox and Gordon as curator of the Goodwood Collection (until 2022).

Elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries (FSA) in 2016, Peill is the author of Glorious Goodwood: A Biography of England’s Greatest Sporting Estate (Constable & Little, Brown, 2019) and The English Country House (Vendome, 2013), as well as co-authoring, with fellow antiquarian Desmond FitzGerald, Irish Furniture (Yale, 2007) and The Irish Country House (Vendome, 2010).

Joining the College of Arms as a probationary officer in 2022, Peill was appointed in 2024 as Bluemantle Pursuivant in succession to Mark Scott. He was appointed Richmond Herald on 28 May 2026, but transferred to Garter King of Arms on 1 July 2026.

Family In 2008, Peill married Saskia Lawson Johnston (born 1985), an artist and only daughter of the Hon. Philip Lawson Johnston, the glass engraver; and granddaughter of Ian Lawson Johnston, 2nd Baron Luke .

Armorial achievement