Air Chief Marshal The Lord Stuart Peach,
Former Chair of the NATO Military Committee and former UK Chief of Defence Staff
Lord Peach was appointed as the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to the Western Balkans in December 2021. Previously Lord Peach was the 32nd Chairman of the Military Committee of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO); the most senior and longest standing military structure in the Alliance.
Air Chief Marshal Peach was NATO’s most senior military officer and the Military Adviser to the Secretary General and the North Atlantic Council. In addition, he was the UK’s most senior serving officer.
He was educated in the West Midlands, attended the University of Sheffield (BA), University of Cambridge (MPhil in International Law and International Relations), RAF Staff College and the Joint Services Command and Staff College (HCSC). He holds 4 honorary Doctorates from UK Universities: Hull, Kingston, Sheffield and Loughborough, in Technology and Letters (DTech, DLitt).
Commissioned into the Royal Air Force in 1974, Lord Peach qualified as a nuclear weapons and electronic warfare instructor.
Operational service includes Belize, Hong Kong and Germany in the 1980s. After several staff tours he was Air Commander (Forward) in headquarters for the Kosovo Force (KFOR) (NATO) in Kosovo and was Deputy Senior British Military Adviser in US HQ Central Command 2001 to 2002.
Lord Peach was Director General Intelligence Collection in the Ministry of Defence 2003 to 2006 and Chief of Defence Intelligence and Deputy Chairman of the UK Joint Intelligence Committee 2006 to 2009, where he held the UK seat at the NATO Intelligence Board. He held the appointment of Chief of Joint Operations at Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ) from March 2009 to December 2011, commanding all UK Force Elements in support of NATO operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.
He was then the first Commander of the UK Joint Forces Command from December 2011 to April 2013. He was Vice Chief of the Defence Staff from May 2013 to May 2016 and was responsible for all UK military personnel in NATO. He was Chief of the Defence Staff from July 2016 to June 2018 and assumed the role of Chairman of the Military Committee of NATO in June 2018, his fourth four-star appointment.
Lord Peach is a Fellow of the Royal College of Defence Studies, an Honorary Fellow of the Downing College Cambridge and Royal Institute of Navigation. He was knighted by HM The Queen (KCB) in 2009, became a Knight Grand Cross of the British Empire (GBE) in 2016. Lord Peach was appointed by HM The King as a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter (KG) in 2024. He became a Crossbench Peer in the House of Lords in November 2022.
Lord Peach is married with 2 children.