Order of the Bath in 1937, was promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1944 and to Knight Grand Cross on his retirement in 1953. He had been appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order in 1926, before his promotion to Knighthood in that Order in 1939. He was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1933. He was sworn of the Privy Council, entitling him to the prefix "Right Honourable", in 1943. In 1943, Lascelles was promoted to Private Secretary to George VI. In 1952 he became Private Secretary to Elizabeth II, a role he held until 1953. Lascelles was also Keeper of the Royal Archives from 1943 to 1953. He retired from his 27 years of royal service on the last day of 1953, at the age of 66. He had been asked by then Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill twice and by the Queen once whether he would like to go to the House of Lords with a hereditary peerage but he declined. He did, however, accept appointment as a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath which, he said, "rated much higher than a peerage". Lascelles's papers are now held in the Churchill Archives Centre at Churchill College, Cambridge. Personal life On 16 March 1920, Lascelles married Joan Frances Vere Thesiger (1895–1971), daughter of Frederic Thesiger, 1st Viscount Chelmsford, a former Viceroy of India and First Lord of the Admiralty. They had three children: John Frederick Lascelles, born 11 June 1922, died 11 September 1951. Lavinia Joan Lascelles, born 27 June 1923, died 3 November 2020; married to Major Edward Westland Renton, divorced 1960, then 1962–64 to the writer Gavin Maxwell, and to David Hankinson in 1969. Caroline Mary Lascelles, born 15 February 1927; married 1949 to Antony Lyttelton, 2nd Viscount Chandos; then 1985 to David Erskine, son of Lord Erskine. Lascelles died on 10 August 1981 at Kensington Palace at the age of 94. Honours and awards He also received the Royal Household Long and Faithful Service Medal. In popular culture Lascelles is portrayed by Paul Brooke in the 2002 film Bertie and Elizabeth and Pip Torrens in the 2016 Netflix series The Crown. Bibliography References Sources Lascelles, Rt. Hon. Sir Alan Frederick, (11 April 1887–10 Aug. 1981), Past Director: The Midland Bank; Royal Academy of Music; Private Secretary to the Queen,