Oliver Dawnay

Oliver Payan Dawnay CVO (4 April 192018 March 1988) was a British civil servant, banker, stockbroker, and private secretary to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother from 1951 to 1956. Dawnay served with the army in World War II, and worked as a banker before and after his royal service.

Early life and army service Dawnay was the son of Major-General Guy Dawnay, and attended Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford, before working as a civil servant in the Ministry of Economic Warfare. Dawnay was also mentioned in dispatches during the war.

In July 1951, in an incident that was published in international newspapers, Dawnay rescued a woman and her three children from a car that had crashed into the River Blackwater near his home in Reading, Berkshire. The driver of the car was killed in the crash, with an eyewitness describing Dawnay's actions as having "undoubtedly saved the children's lives". Gilliat would serve as the Queen Mother's private secretary for 37 years until his death in 1993. In 1963, Dawnay married as his second wife Iris Peake, a former lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret.