Her Majesty the Queen appoints Historic Royal Palaces Chair

Her Majesty the Queen has appointed Rupert Gavin as Chair to Historic Royal Palaces for 3 years from 6 May 2015 to 5 May 2018. Historic Royal Palaces (HRP) manages Britain’s unoccupied royal palaces: the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, the Banqueting House, Kensington Palace and Kew Palace. It is a public corporation of the Department for Culture, Media & Sport.

Biography of Rupert Gavin

Rupert Gavin is a well-established figure in the world of business, media and the arts. From 2005-2014 he was CEO of Odeon and UCI Cinemas Group, building it to be the largest cinema company in Europe. Prior to this, he was CEO of BBC Worldwide for seven years, during which time he was responsible for all global commercial activities, including TV channels, co-productions, magazines, books and home entertainment, was recipient of the Queen’s Award for Exports, and a member of the BBC’s Executive Committee. Other senior business appointments have included: Managing Director, Consumer Division of British Telecom, Deputy Managing Director of Dixons Stores Group and Board Director of Virgin Mobile.

For many years, Mr Gavin was a director and shareholder of The Ambassador Theatre Group, now the most substantial theatre company in the world. He has produced/co-produced over 100 theatre productions since 1981, many of them award-winning. He has also served as Governor of the National Film and Television School, and Treasurer of the Contemporary Art Society. Currently, Mr Gavin is a board director of Wyevale Garden Centres, a board director of Countrywide plc, executive chairman of his West End theatre producing company Incidental Colman, chairman of Theatre CoProductions Ltd., and fourth Warden of the Worshipful Company of Grocers.

For further information about Historic Royal Palaces visit www.hrp.org.uk