Field Marshal Lord Guthrie died in London in the early hours of the 18th September. He was Tony Blair's chief of defence staff from 1997 till his retirement in 2001. He commanded at every level in the British Army from platoon to army group and was the last of the ‘big beast’ CDSs, as well as the only one so far to have served with the SAS.

As a junior officer he served on operations with both the Welsh Guards and 22 SAS in Aden, Malaya, East Africa, Cyprus and Northern Ireland, and as a senior officer he commanded the Welsh Guards during an operational tour of the Bandit Country of South Armagh at the height of the Troubles and then, following a brief interlude as British Commander, South Pacific in the New Hebrides, led an armoured brigade in Germany in the midst of the Cold War. Lord Guthrie was eventually appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British Army of the Rhine and Northern Army Group as the Cold War ended and the former Yugoslavia began to disintegrate into savage internecine warfare, before becoming Chief of the General Staff and later Chief of the Defence Staff.

Field Marshal Lord Guthrie at his book launch, with Colonel Tom Bonas, Paul de Zulueta and Marcus Cowper, and flanked by Welsh Guardsmen.

Throughout his long career, he was instrumental in developing and encouraging the officers who have served under him, many of whom went on to reach the highest ranks. As a commander, he always delegated and allowed subordinates to learn, develop and make their own mistakes while making sure no one took life too seriously.

In 2007 he published Just War with Bloomsbury, which is a monograph co-written with Sir Michael Quinlan on the ethics of conflict. While his memoirs, Peace, War and Whitehall, were published by Osprey in October 2021.