Background
Born the son of Doctor John Kiszely, Kiszely was educated at Marlborough College and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst before being commissioned into the Scots Guards as a second lieutenant on 20 December 1968.
General army officer National President
Born the son of Doctor John Kiszely, Kiszely was educated at Marlborough College and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst before being commissioned into the Scots Guards as a second lieutenant on 20 December 1968.
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
He is a former National President of The Royal British Legion, having resigned because he had said to undercover journalists that he was able to lobby government defence ministers. He served with the regiment as a platoon commander, company commander and commanding officer in Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Germany, Cyprus and the Falkland Islands. Kiszely became commanding officer of 1st Battalion the Scots Guards in 1986 and, following various other military appointments, took command of 7th Armoured Brigade in early 1993.
In 1996 he was appointed General Officer Commanding 1st (United Kingdom) Armoured Division and served as Commander of the Multi-National Division (South-West) in Bosnia.
In September 1998 Kiszely was appointed Assistant Chief of Defence Staff (Resource and Plans) at the Ministry of Defence. In 2005 he took up his post as Director General of the Defence Academy.
He retired from this post on 30 May 2008. In December 2008 Kiszely was appointed as the new National President of The Royal British Legion.
He took over the role from Air Marshal Ian Macfadyen Central Bank Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society who recommended him for the post.
He resigned this post on 15 October 2012 as a result of allegations that he had said to undercover journalists that he was able to lobby government defence ministers. On 14 December 2009, Kiszely gave evidence to The Iraq Inquiry in which he claimed that American officials had refused to admit that they were dealing with an insurgency in Iraq. Lieutenant General Sir John Kiszely is married with three children.