So I've posted before as a new royal watcher about the broaches, now I have a new question. Who is Mark Dryer, did he work for Charles, I dont get how these random people end up as family figures to William and Harry.
You may have also heard the name Tiggy Legge-Bourke, or Tiggy Pettifer. Tiggy was the nanny Charles hired for William and Harry in the early '90s when he and Diana first separated. Tiggy was the boys' nanny for about 6 years, retiring from Charles's employ in 1999 when she married.
Depending on who you ask, Tiggy's role varies. Some people say she was the boys' nanny. Some people say she was their companion, a kind of big sister sort of role. Some people say she was Charles's personal assistant who also looked after the boys.
Mark Dyer was Tiggy's male counterpart. He was also part of Charles's household in the '90s, either one of Charles's equerries or one of the RPOs (it also varies depending on who you ask). William and Harry got along well with him and Dyer was present for some pivotal moments in their lives. For Harry, Dyer accompanied him and Charles on their trip to Africa in 1997 or 1998 and that's kind of seen as when Dyer stopped being Charles's aide and began being William and Harry's aide, with Dyer making his "debut" as the boys' aide in 1999 at a couple of military events.
By all accounts, Dyer really was there for William and Harry. He would visit them at school, go to their sport things, accompany them on trips. The boys would talk to him about their worries or concerns. And allegedly, Dyer was the one who confronted Harry about his drug use and smoking, before Charles found out about it. So what Dyer did was very much the same things Tiggy did for them and they would talk to Tiggy about.
My guess is that once William finished at Eton, he moved "on" from Dyer but as Harry was a few years younger, he had more time with Dyer that allowed them to develop a stronger bond, I guess. Eventually Dyer ended up on Harry's "side," basically accompanying Harry on most of his travels in his gap year, allegedly helping him prep for Sandhurst, and here we are 20 years later, with Harry still very much dependent on Dyer for counsel and support, as evidenced by the Betrayal excerpts.
Dyer retired from royal service in 2009 and now has a chain of bars and pubs but obviously he's still close to Harry. Allegedly when they were dating, Harry and Meghan would have their dates at Dyer's bar for the "privacy" (and by "privacy" I 100% mean free food and drinks). Harry also went to Dyer's wedding, and Dyer's to Harry's, and Dyer is one of Archie's godfathers. (Archie's godparents have never been officially announced but given the history between Harry and Dyer, it's one of those unofficial-official confirmations like "is water wet".)
Getting back to Tiggy - Tiggy is said to have a healthier relationship with the boys and still keeps in touch with William, who's said to have visited Tiggy and her family all the way into the '10s. Tiggy's son, Tom, was one of the boys in William and Kate's wedding in 2011. Tiggy is/was also close to Charles and Camilla, first being a guest at Camilla's 50th birthday party and then being a guest to their wedding.
Tiggy also has a Diana connection - Diana was very jealous of Tiggy, reportedly telling Charles to limit how much time she spent with William and Harry, and becoming convinced that Tiggy and Charles were having an affair. So much so that part of Martin Basheer's trickery to convince Diana to do the Panorama interview involved telling Diana that Tiggy had gotten pregnant with Charles's baby but had an abortion. Allegedly, Diana confronted Tiggy about this at a party, then a few weeks later it was in the newspapers and the newspapers named Diana as their source and it all culminated in Tiggy, with The Queen's support, basically threatening to sue Diana for libel and an apology about the rumor.
Probably the third name you may hear a lot is Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton. He was an equerry to the Queen Mother in the '80s and in 2005, returned to royal service as William and Harry's first private secretary. He's said to be the one who helped William and Harry build the Royal Foundation, develop their charity platforms, and set them on their path for success. (Well, more so William and Kate on the latter than Harry...obviously.) If Dyer was on Harry's "side," then Lowther-Pinkerton was on William's "side", with Lowther-Pinkerton's son being in William and Kate's wedding and Lowther-Pinkerton being one of George's godparents (which was officially announced). He left royal service in 2013 but is still expected to remain close with the now-Waleses, as he surprised Kate on her away day in Suffolk last year, where he lives now.
And Harry/Harry's PR loves to throw the "like a second father" line around a lot. Other men who've been named Harry's second father include David Foster (when the Sussexes were lovebombing them in 2020) and Elton John.
