Mark William Bolland

Mark Bolland was Deputy Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales 1998-2002.

Bolland was born on 10th April 1966 in Toronto, and educated at the King's Manor School, Middlesbrough, and the University of York, where he received a BSc(Hons) in chemistry.

He was a public affairs executive with Public Affairs International Ltd, Toronto (1985-1987), and then joined IBM (UK) Ltd as a Marketing Executive (1987-1988). From 1988 to 1991 he was Research Manager and Adviser to the Director-General, Advertising Standards Authority, where he was instrumental in laying the groundwork for the establishment of the European Advertising Standards Alliance, and then Executive Assistant to Lord MacGregor, the Chairman of the Press Complaints Commission 1991-1992.

From 1992 to 1996 Bolland was the first Director of the Press Complaints Commission, where he successfully established the PCC as an effective self regulatory body and saw off a number of threats to press freedom arising from the two Calcutt inquiries into press intrusion.

He was appointed Assistant Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales in August 1996, and in 1998 became Deputy Private Secretary. There he was credited with the rehabilitation of Mrs Camilla Parker Bowles, and with the establishment of special media arrangements to safeguard the privacy of Princes William and Harry at school and University. His role was recognised by the PR industry in 2001 when he was awarded the prestigious PR Week "Professional of the Year Award". He resigned in 2002, but continued as a public relations consultant to the Prince of Wales until the end of 2003. In 2002, he formed his own PR consultancy, Mark Bolland Associates.

He has been a columnist on the News of the World, and now writes regularly for ES magazine, as well as contributing occasional articles for the Mail on Sunday. He has also appeared on Newsnight Review. In June 2007 he was appointed a Vice President of the Journalists' Charity.

He entered in a civil partnership with long time partner Guy Black, former Press Secretary to Rt Hon Michael Howard MP. The partnership was registered at Islington Town Hall on Saturday, 11 February 2006. Murdoch MacLennan, Chief Executive of the Telegraph Media Group, and Rebekah Wade, editor of The Sun, were witnesses.