For nearly 15 years, Major Marco Ciotti has had a front row seat to island life.
As the Aide de Camp to three Lieutenant-Governors he has had the privilege of meeting people from all walks of life in more situations than you can imagine.
On the cusp of his retirement, he told me that his past military experience meant he was prepared for some of the work he has undertaken since his return to Guernsey.
In part two, we reached the 1990s and Major Ciotti’s work in Hong Kong and Kosovo.
By the end of the 1990s Major Ciotti had decided the time was right for him to retire from the army.
The Ciotti family returned to Guernsey, and he took up work in Public Relations and later Specsavers while also joining the local Territorial Army unit.
“That was really good fun,” he said, remembering those days.
“It was really good, and different, but a really good way to get back into living in Guernsey, because I’d go out pitching for business, meeting people, and it was a really good way to get back into meeting who’s who in Guernsey and seeing how Guernsey works, because when I left Guernsey, I was a teenager, and I wasn’t really interested in that.”
After around a decade of networking, and working with his dad in hospitality again, Major Ciotti was aware that there would soon be a vacancy for a new Secretary working alongside the Lieutenant Governor, who at that time was Air Marshal Peter Walker.
He said that he was aware of what the Lieutenant Governor does, as the Monarch’s representative in the Bailiwick, but he’s especially proud of how accessible Government House has become over the past few years.
“We meet some children and young people and if you ask them, ‘have you been to Government House before?’ some will say ‘oh yes, three or four times’, so a lot of people meet the Lieutenant Governor. It’s much more accessible than it was in many ways for someone of my generation.”
Major Ciotti thinks the changes seen in the Lieutenant Governor’s role in the Bailiwick has reflected the changes in the Monarchy too – with the current Governor now acting as the representative of King Charles III, after the death of his mother.
“The late Queen was very good at evolving the Monarchy without us noticing,” he said. “If you look at what the Monarchy was like when she ascended to the throne compared to when she died, it had changed a lot, but it seemed to us like it hadn’t at the time. The world was changing, and attitudes were changing, people communicated differently. When I arrived (at Government House) it was mostly through letters, there was a little bit of email, but not very much, whereas now it’s totally the other way, and we have social media and things like that, so anyone can talk to anyone at any time, which has its advantages.”
“(People) know the Lieutenant Governor, they like seeing the Lieutenant Governor because they’ve spoken to him and they know what he does,” he added.
This part of the Lieutenant Governor’s job was clearly a highlight for Major Ciotti in his work as ADC. Getting out and meeting people and being involved in island life kept him and the three Governors he served very busy over the past few years.
“We do lots of nice things with patronages and other organisations, charitable organisations and youth organisations,” he said.
“We work with lots of organisations like that, and that’s really nice.
“Then obviously the Church of England is the State religion of Great Britain, and the monarch is the Head of the Church, so the Lieutenant Governor has responsibilities in that area, appointing crown livings, as they’re called, so appointing Vicars, Rectors within that. He’s also Commander in Chief so we still get involved with the MOD in some ways.
“The Lieutenant Governor listens, he doesn’t speak, apart from the last meeting he attends, but he represents the Sovereign in parliament, so he sits and listens in the States of Guernsey, the States of Alderney, and Chief Pleas of Sark.”
That parliamentary responsibility involves attending every meeting for each government when he is in the Bailiwick.
Through learning about the issues of the day, and observing the parliamentary debates, the Lieutenant Governor is also able to offer a listening ear to our elected representatives if they need a sounding board.
“They can speak to him if they want to sound something off, ask an opinion, get advice, and in that way the Lieutenant Governor doesn’t have executive authority, but he has influence.
“It’s a very useful role for the Bailiwick from that point of view, it isn’t just ceremonial. Obviously, people see the ceremonial, and being a three-star General, they’re bringing a lot of experience of dealing with people. It might be military experience, it might be different, but people are people. If you’re dealing with people and trying to get them to do things or accept things, or if they’re worried about something, a senior officer would have come across a lot of that before, and so they can advise if people want to discuss things.”
As the Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor, Major Ciotti has himself been in listening and observing mode for more than a decade.
His local knowledge – both current and historical – is immense, fed by the wide array of books lining the shelves at Government House, covering all manner of topics encompassing the constitution, ecology, people, and history of the islands.
“You’re effectively the Lieutenant Governor’s staff, so a lot of the things that he has an interest in, wants to do, wants to see, it will be the Secretary that actually engages with people and arranges it, so you get involved a really wide range of things.”
The current Lieutenant Governor, Lieutenant General Sir Richard Cripwell, is the third that Major Ciotti has served.
When he was appointed as ADC, Air Marshal Peter Walker was here representing Queen Elizabeth II.
When he died unexpectedly in 2015, Major Ciotti helped to arrange his funeral in Guernsey and worked with Air Marshal Walker’s family to make their personal arrangements for leaving the island.
It was he admits, a very sad time.
Vice Admiral Sir Ian Corder followed, and he remained in post until 2021 offering continuity to the Bailiwick during the unprecedented covid pandemic.
During his tenure he sought to open Government House up to more people, inviting centenarians and couples celebrating landmark wedding anniversaries to tea parties.
That has continued during Sir Richard Cripwell’s time in office.
Some of Major Ciotti’s personal highlights of his time in office at Government House have centred around these events which have brought people together.
He has also enjoyed being involved with Royal Visits, including the historic tour which saw Princess Anne become the first member of the British Royal Family to visit the Batterie Mirus and to make an official visit to Little Sark, and to cross La Coupée.
Attending the Liberation Day Tea Parties, arranged by his former employer, Specsavers, also offered highlights during Major Ciotti’s time at Government House.
“For me, speaking to people who were here during the war, some of them I sort of know from when I was a kid, but you don’t really know much about it then, but to speak to people now and say ‘what were the Germans like?’, it’s fascinating. They nearly always say, ‘oh they were alright’. They’ll always tell you about two or three who were wonderful, and they would always say ‘oh but so-and-so used to come round….’ and it would be an SS Officer or something.
“But the richness of those stories…”
Now Major Ciotti has retired, he’ll be invited to attend numerous events in a personal capacity, but he doesn’t intend to keep himself busy doing that just yet. Infact, he intends to do the exact opposite.
At the time of our interview, beyond a brief trip to the UK, he had nothing planned, and that was exactly how he wanted it.
His plans extended to helping his wife more, saying that she had supported him so much throughout his time working, while also looking forward to sorting out his vegetable patch and getting out on his boat more often to pull his crab pots.
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This article first appeared in full in CONNECT: