Fees:
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Dickie Arbiter LVO
Dickie Arbiter LVO is the best known of all the former Royal Press Secretaries and is an exceptionally talented speaker. The author of On Duty with the Queen, he has over 50 years of experience covering royalty, heads of state, and other globally recognised personalities.
About Dickie Arbiter
Dickie Arbiter LVO was former Press Secretary to King Charles III, when he was The Prince of Wales, and the late Queen Elizabeth II. As such, Dickie has had unprecedented access to some of the most notable figures of our time. With almost five decades of experience covering royalty as a broadcaster, journalist and Royal Press Secretary, he is regarded as one of the most knowledgeable and sought-after experts on the British Monarchy working today.
Dickie Arbiter LVO is also the only Royal Commentator who has witnessed both the death of King George VI, the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and her Silver, Golden, Diamond and Platinum Jubilees.
Dickie Arbiter began his television and radio career in the early 1960s in Southern Africa. After returning to the UK in the early 1970s, he began travelling extensively both at home and abroad, covering the British monarchy, his area of expertise. In 1988, he joined the Buckingham Palace Press Office serving as a press spokesman to King Charles III when he was The Prince of Wales and Her Majesty the late Queen.
With his vast working knowledge of the British Royal family, Dickie is a regular Royal commentator for the major UK, US, European, Australian & Far Eastern television and radio networks. Dickie Arbiter retired from Buckingham Palace in 2000 and is now the person the world’s press turn to because he has spent over fifty years covering royalty, heads of state, and other globally recognized figures. This incredible experience allows him to bring his own personal insight into the public forum as a royal analyst and as an international lecturer.
Dickie has a passion for horse riding, he enjoys reading biographies, the theatre and ballet.
The British Monarchy Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
There have been kings and queens in the UK for over a thousand years, and despite quirks of nature and accidents of birth, the join from one reign to the next has been almost seamless. There have also been scandals – some would call a constitutional crisis – but throughout the monarchy has survived. Dickie dips into the history of the monarchy from the Hanoverian Georges to the present day Elizabethan age and the scandals that rocked it.
The Palace and the Press
Love them or hate them the media have always targeted the soft underbelly of the monarchy. No one in the family is excluded by them and in his talk Dickie highlights some of the highs and the lows the Royal family have had to endure, including The Queen, Prince Charles and Camilla, William and Catherine, Harry and Meghan, Andrew and Fergie and Edward and Sophie – none of them have escaped analysis under the media microscope.
The Relevance of Monarchy
The Queen’s critics argue there is no place in the 21st century for a monarchy. The Queen, and that means the monarchy, stands accused of being out of touch, rich and costing the taxpayer too much. By today’s standards, the Queen is way down in the rich list pecking order as published annually by The Sunday Times. Dickie explodes the ‘rich & cost’ myth and draws comparisons between the cost of The Queen and other notable heads of state.
Spotlight on the Monarchy
Not long after Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne in 1952 that she began to feel the full glare of the media spotlight. Television came of age with its coverage of her Coronation, since when neither TV nor photographers have left her, or other members of the royal family, alone. There was that BBC 1969 Royal Family documentary – shown four times since made and subsequently then locked away on orders from The Queen; Edward’s disastrous BBC Royal Knockout; Charles’ admission to adultery interview on ITV; Diana’s BBC Panorama interview; Andrew’s BBC Newsnight car crash interview and Harry and Meghan’s “their truth” confessional to Oprah Winfrey. Today Dickie sheds light on how TV and photographers combined could have destabilised the monarchy but instead damaged only the individual rather than the institution.
Clients who have booked Dickie include:
UK
Consero
Galliard Homes
Essex Federation of WI’s
Three Counties Ladies Luncheon Club
Staffordshire WI
Norwich Ladies Luncheon Club
Daily Mail Literary Club Lunch
Harrogate Literary lunch
Hull Literary lunch
Meridian Group
Norton CC Business Women’s Lunch
Malpas Literary Festival
Hurlingham Luncheon Club
CRUISES
SAGA Cruise – Mediterranean
Holland America Channel
Crystal Cruises – Shetland- NY
P & O – Azure – East Atlantic
P & O – Oriana – Baltic
P & O – Adonia – East Atlantic
P & O – Adonia – Pacific/Atlantic
P & O – Arcadia – Atlantic
P & O – Adonia – Atlantic & Home
P & O – Arcadia – Pacific & Panama
P & O – Britannia – Mediterranean
USA
Ocean Reef Club – Key Largo FL
Horizons Town Hall – Saginaw MI
Trumbull Town Hall – Warren OH
Women’s University Club – Seattle WA
San Marino Celebrity Series – Pasadena CA
Oklahoma City Town Hall – Oklahoma OK
Twentieth Century Club – Pittsburg PA
Visiting Nurses Celebrity Luncheon – Bethlehem PA
Celebrity Luncheons – Wilkes-Barre PA
Town Hall – Lansing MI
Town Hall – Omaha NE
Downriver Town Hall – Southgate MI
Dallas Women’s Club-Dallas TX
The Women’s Institute – Houston TX
Cincinnati Woman’s Club – Cincinnati OH
Tuckahoe Woman’s Club – Richmond VA
Pontiac Town Hall – Pontiac MI
BDG – Johannesburg SA
Town Hall – Fargo ND
Pontiac/Oakland Town Hall – Pontiac MI
Mary K. Craig Class – Dallas TX
Waterman Alumnae Town Hall – Ann Arbor MI
Port Huron Town Hall – Port Huron MI
Town Hall – Morris NJ
Women’s Club – Richmond VA
Town Hall – Denver CO
Women’s Club – Bocca Rotan FL
Testimonials
"Thank you so much for a really enjoyable talk at Hurlingham. One very subtle compliment was that you had 'given us some wonderful insights without giving away any secrets' and that undoubtedly kept the audience attentive."
Hurlingham Club London
"Dickie Arbiter proved to be one of our most popular speakers at our twice monthly lunch clubs, with fascinating insights into the relationship between the Royal family and the press. We are hoping to persuade him to return in the future."
Langham Hotel
"I have received rave reviews from your time on board, thank you for a good job well done. Everyone is saying that you were the perfect guest speaker for this maiden voyage, which is lovely to hear!"
P & O Britannia
"It was delightful to meet you and you were a tremendous hit on Friday - thank you again."
The Malpas Festival
"Thank you so much for last night it was brilliant. I have received lots of positives thank-you's, so thank you!"
Meridian Group Woldingham