Lieutenant Colonel Sir John Frederick Dame Johnston, GCVO, MC (24 August 1922 – 10 September 2006) was a British Army officer and courtier.
In 1941, Johnston joined the 4th Battalion, Grenadier Guards, then being converted from infantry into an armoured formation with Churchill tanks.
His troop was part of a diversion force posted to mislead the Germans into expecting an invasion of the Pas de Calais, so he landed in Normandy six weeks after D-Day.
Johnston first met his future wife at Welbeck College, where she was visiting her older sister who was married to another officer.
Johnston was brigade major of the Household Division from October 1959 to August 1962,[2] and he led the royal procession at Trooping the Colour in 1962, although he quickly had to be taught to ride a horse first.
[2] Johnston was promoted to Comptroller in 1981, replacing Lieutenant Colonel Sir Eric Penn shortly before the 1981 royal wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer.
He was succeeded as Comptroller by Lieutenant Colonel George Alston-Roberts-West, and moved to a house in Windsor Great Park.