Major General PC Marriott CB CBE
A message from Major General Patrick Marriott, Lord-Lieutenant of Sutherland:
"I was greatly honoured to be appointed as Lord-Lieutenant of Sutherland. I am proud to represent His Majesty the King in Sutherland and to form the link between the people of Sutherland and the Sovereign."
Major General Marriott was appointed Lord-Lieutenant for Sutherland in August 2022, having joined the Lieutenancy team as a Deputy Lieutenant in 2013 and having been appointed Vice Lord-Lieutenant in 2021.
Major General Marriott was commissioned from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst into the 17th/21st Lancers in 1977. After service in Norway, Germany and Northern Ireland, the MOD and the Sinai, he attended staff college in Canada, assuming command of The Queen's Royal Lancers in 1998. The Regiment deployed to Bosnia during the "Kosovo Crisis" for which he was made an OBE. Staff positions followed, including Chief of Staff of 1st (UK) Armoured Division at the time of the attack into Iraq in 2003, for which he was elevated to CBE. As a brigadier he commanded the 7th Armoured Brigade ("The Desert Rats"); his time in command included a deployment to Iraq in 2005/6 for which he was awarded the Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service. In 2009 he was appointed Commandant of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and the Director General of Army Leadership . He was made a CB in 2012 and retired to his family home in Scotland the same year. He rejoined the Army Reserve as a major general and chaired higher Service Complaints' Panels on behalf of the Army Board from until 2020.
He was the Chair of the Scottish Committee of the mental health charity for veterans, Combat Stress (2014-20), and the Chair of the Board of Trustees for the charity, The Young Karers of East Sutherland ("Tykes") (2017-22). He is currently: a trustee of The Desert Rats Association, Chair of the Friends of Sutherland Veterans, and the President of the Sutherland Branch of the charity, the Soldiers, Sailors, Air Forces Association (SSAFA). In 2014 Major General Marriott created an annual initiative (“Pure Words”) to teach public speaking skills in Golspie High School. In 2017 he led a six day trek for pupils from the Sutherland secondary schools walking across Sutherland "coast to coast", carrying kit and sleeping in the wild; all survived. In 2019 he wrote a short book on "leadership", privately published for his children and close friends. In 2021 he created the Battle of Littleferry (1746) Project Team. On 15 April 2022 the project erected a memorial stone to all those who fought at the battle; Major General Marriott also wrote the history and trail guide for the battle. The project now works towards fostering education and tourism in Sutherland.
Major General Marriott enjoys fly fishing and walking. He also likes public speaking, history, archaeology, natural history (especially ornithology), sketching, pressing wild flowers, gold panning,
hot air ballooning (for which he has spent some time in hospital), building dykes, dog-sledding, and firing his cannon, an excessively generous present from his long-suffering "Desert Rats". He is married to Henrietta who is an Advanced Nurse Practitioner and a volunteer BASICS responder (similar to an emergency paramedic). On emergency calls, Major General Marriott is her driver. Henrietta is also the Secretary and Vice Chairman of Golspie Community Council. The Marriotts have two sons and one daughter; George and Harry both serve as captains in the army. Alice is an undergraduate at Cardiff University.
Major General Marriott and Henrietta live beside Loch Fleet near Golspie in Sutherland.
