Obituary: Lt-Col Sir Blair Stewart-Wilson KCVO, deputy master of the household and equerry to the Queen

Equerry to the Queen and major in Atholl Highlanders

Lt-Col Sir Blair Stewart-Wilson KCVO, deputy master of the household and equerry to the Queen.

Born: 17 July, 1929, in London.

Died: 24 May, 2011, in Somerset, aged 81.

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Blair Stewart-Wilson was a consummate courtier, as comfortable in the company of gillies on Deeside as he was with the monarch on some of the great state occasions.

Thoroughly likeable, with an eye for detail and an ability to put others at ease, he was a man eminently suited to his duties as deputy master of the household and equerry to the Queen.

He joined the firm in 1976, accompanying the Royal Family on their annual summer cruise of the Western Isles on Britannia, and served until 1994, his tenure spanning the annus horriblis of 1992 and the devastating fire at Windsor Castle, to which he apparently alerted his superior with the news that there was "a bit of a problem".

Born in London, his arrival was somewhat unexpected as his mother, for medical reasons, thought she had had a successful abortion.

His father, Aubyn Wilson, died in 1934 and his mother, Muriel, remarried two years later, shortly after becoming the 10th Lady of Balnakeilly in Perthshire, succeeding her uncle, Major Alexander Blair Stewart. The young Blair spent his early childhood in Perthshire, where his familiarity with the countryside and understanding of country life later made him popular with Balmoral's gillies and gamekeepers.

Educated at Eton and Sandhurst, he was commissioned into the Scots Guards in 1949 and served in the UK, Germany and the Far East. He was subaltern of the Buckingham Palace Detachment of the King's Guard in February 1952 when, overnight, it became the Queen's Guard following the death of George VI.

He was among the teams of officers who mounted a vigil during the King's lying in state, and later commanded half a company of street liners in The Mall on the day the Queen was crowned.

He was Adjutant of the 2nd Battalion between 1955 and 1957 and for the following two years served as ADC to the 10th Viscount Cobham while he was Governor-General of New Zealand. He then became equerry to the Duke of Gloucester before spending more than four months in Borneo in 1975, commanding Right Flank, Scots Guards, following the Indonesian invasion of Malaya.

For the remainder of his army career he served as Regimental Adjutant (1966-1968), GSO1 Foreign Liaison Section (Army) at the Ministry of Defence (1970-1973) and Defence, Military and Air Attache at the British Embassy, Vienna (1975-1976). His post in Vienna should have lasted three years, but he was invited to become deputy master of the household and equerry to the Queen, following the death of his predecessor Lord Plunket.

He became responsible for helping to run the royal household's biggest department, which included food and housekeeping.He was also involved in state visits and banquets, garden parties, foreign tours and occasions such as the state opening of Parliament, as well as the Royal Family's private entertaining at their numerous homes.

When flames ravaged Windsor Castle in November 1992 he was present at the royal residence and phoned the master of the household, Sir Simon Cooper, prompting the classic understatement that they had "a bit of a problem". He remained in the post for a further two years and was later knighted.

As the son of a local laird, he had been invited to join the Duke of Atholl's private army, the Atholl Highlanders, and in 1996 he became a major in the regiment. He commanded the Highlanders as Lieutenant-Colonel from 2003 and had been due, as chieftain, to take the salute of the Highlanders this Sunday to mark the opening of the annual Atholl Gathering and Highland Games.

He was also the Queen's representative trustee on the Board of Royal Armouries, a trustee of Wells Cathedral and Somerset county patron of Cancer Research UK.

Other interests included stalking, shooting and fishing. In his younger years he had obtained a private pilot's licence and taken part in the daredevil Cresta Run.

He is survived by his wife Mary, whom he married in 1962, their three daughters Alice, Sophy and the actress Belinda Stewart-Wilson, and eight grandchildren.