ONE Suffolk family will be at the centre of the celebrations of Prince William’s wedding to Kate Middleton.

As Private Secretary to Prince William, former SAS soldier Major Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, 50, who was raised in the county and has a family home in east Suffolk, holds a key organisational role for tomorrow’s ceremony.

He is said to be very close to the Princes – he is also Private Secretary to Prince Harry – and Mr Lowther-Pinkerton’s son Billy, a 10-year-old Suffolk schoolboy, is to be a page boy for William.

Mr Lowther-Pinkerton’s mother Susan will be watching the events on television at her home, also in east Suffolk, with an extra special interest.

“I am so very proud of them,” she said. “The arrangements have been going on for a long time and I have every confidence in them.

“Jamie has had quite a life and he has been with the Princes for six years now. Billy is very excited about being a page boy. I’m sure it will be a wonderful day and I am looking forward to it.”

She added that Billy was set for a particularly exciting summer as he had been selected as wicketkeeper for the Suffolk under-10s cricket team.

Major Lowther-Pinkerton, son of the late Major Anthony Lowther-Pinkerton, served with the 1st Battalion Irish Guards but was attached to the Special Air Service throughout his 20-year Army career and was a troop commander of the SAS with the rank of captain.

The Old Etonian was Equerry to The Queen Mother from 1984 to 1986, for which he was appointed Member of the Royal Victorian Order.

Maj Lowther-Pinkerton served in the first Gulf War in 1990 and 1991 and spent two years in the early 1990s in charge of SAS teams tackling drug barons in Colombia – work which earned him an MBE.

In the late 1990s he worked in the Balkans as part of a strategic policy review by the Government. He retired from the Army in 1998.

Maj Lowther-Pinkerton is the co-founder of Objective Travel Safety, which provides risk management for international travellers and journalists, and is a consultant to Kroll Risk Management in London.

He trained Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman in preparation for their TV series The Long Way Round.

Maj Lowther-Pinkerton is married to Susannah (nee Richards) and they have four children.