Sir Percivale Liesching GCMG KCB KCVO (1 April 1895 – 4 November 1973) was a British civil servant who held two posts as Permanent Under-Secretary and was High Commissioner in South Africa.
In the latter position he was active in persuading British government ministers to bar Seretse Khama, heir to the throne in the African state of Bechuanaland, not only from becoming king but from ever returning to his country after he had visited Britain for talks about his future.
Liesching's main motivation for urging such action was that Khama had married a white English woman, Ruth Williams - an inter-racial marriage to which the leaders of apartheid South Africa, a neighbouring state of Bechuanaland, had objected vehemently.
[3] In 1955 Liesching left the CRO to take up an appointment as High Commissioner in South Africa, a post he held until 1958.
His replacement at the CRO was Sir Gilbert Laithwaite, under whom a more enlightened attitude towards Khama's marriage emerged almost immediately.