Lieutenant-Commander John Michael Avison Parker, CVO, AM (23 June 1920 – 29 December 2001) was an Australian who served as an officer of the Royal Navy (RN) during World War II, and was Private Secretary to Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, from 1947 to 1957.
He also became Equerry to the Duke and the Duchess of Edinburgh (who later, in 1952, became The Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland).
[3] In 1952, Parker was in Kenya with the royal couple and broke the news initially to the Duke, who then told his wife, of King George VI's death.
[1][4] Parker worked for aircraft builder Lockheed Corporation and advertising agency Leo Burnett Worldwide.
Eileen wrote a 1982 book called Step Aside for Royalty in which she claimed her husband and the Duke of Edinburgh used the pseudonyms Murgatroyd and Winterbottom to "gallivant out of the palace".
[7] In 1962 Parker married Carol Serena, daughter of Sir Ivo Wilfrid Home Thompson, 2nd Baronet.