He is a Scottish Army officer serving as the new King’s equerry. Royal observers consider him to be something of a “braw darling,” or “hunk,” in Scottish slang.
The Queen’s former top bodyguard was Major Jonathan Thompson of the 5th Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland.
Friends refer to him as “Johnny,” and in recent days, as King Charles III’s equerry—a position he held while still the Prince of Wales—he has found himself front and center of major Royal occasions.
Major Thompson supervised Charles’ first public outing as monarch on Friday.
The officer afterwards led Prime Minister Liz Truss to Buckingham Palace to see the King. He was saw yesterday at St. James’ Palace supporting the King as he signed the proclamations.
Major Jonathan Thompson of the 5th Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland, known to friends as ‘Johnny’, has caught the eye of a number of Royal watchers. Major Thompson (right) was pictured on Thursday with Prime Minister Elizabeth Truss (left)
Major Thompson always wears a thick tartan kilt and large fur sporran, which had him sweltering during Charles and Camilla’s Royal tour of Canada in May.
The moment the Major – who is married – and Prime Minister looked into each other’s eyes yesterday caused some amusement among observers of the historic occasion.
A body language expert joked: ‘This is how most Mexican telenovelas [soap operas] begin.’
One Twitter user posted: ‘PM Truss is the envy of the world. A weekly meeting with Johnny – I mean, King Charles?’ Another tweeted: ‘We’ll be seeing a lot of him now. As my dear husband said, “Oh look here’s your Major” (in my dreams).’
Major Thompson (pictured right) had previously accompanied Queen Elizabeth II upon her arrival at Balmoral earlier this summer, prior to her death
But another Twitter user empathised with Major Thompson, who was known to be close to the Queen, saying: ‘I think he looks very sad, he’s really devoted to the Royal Family, bless him.’
Earlier this year he was present at July’s Service of Thanksgiving for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee at St Paul’s Cathedral, sitting behind the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
His positioning was seized upon for speculation that he was acting as Charles’s ‘eyes and ears’ to observe Harry and Meghan.