Sir Gwyn Jenkins | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Jenkins in 2022 | |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Branch | Royal Marines |
| Years of service | 1990–present |
| Rank | General |
| Commands | First Sea Lord Commandant General Royal Marines Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff 3 Commando Brigade Special Boat Service |
| Battles / wars | The Troubles International Force East Timor War in Afghanistan Iraq War |
| Awards | Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Officer of the Order of the British Empire |
GeneralSir Gwyn Jenkins,KCB,OBE,ADC is a seniorRoyal Marines officer. Since 15 May 2025 he has served as theFirst Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff.
He served asVice-Chief of the Defence Staff from August 2022 to June 2024. He was concurrently appointedCommandant General Royal Marines in November 2022.
Jenkins was educated atMalmesbury School.[1]
Jenkins was commissioned into theRoyal Marines in 1990. He spent time as ajunior officer in theCommando Logistics Regiment and onoperations in Northern Ireland with42 Commando.[2]
In 2004, he graduated from theMilitary College Shrivenham, where he completed a master's degree in Defence Studies.[2]
He becamecommanding officer of theSpecial Boat Service in 2009.[3]
Jenkins was promoted from acting to fullcolonel on 1 July 2011.[4] In 2011 Jenkins received a written report stating that members of the Army'sSpecial Air Service (SAS), soldiers who were not under his command, and operating in Afghanistan, had conductedextrajudicial killings. He referred the matter to his superior officer, the Director Special Forces, recommending a detailed investigation: in response SAS tactics were subject to a rare review. The BBC claimed that Jenkins was legally obliged to pass his report to theRoyal Military Police as it was an allegation that British forces had committed war crimes. He did not, but placed it in a classified dossier in April 2011.[5] In October 2011 Jenkins deployed to Afghanistan as the commander of all British Special Forces in the country.[5]
He was appointedOfficer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) "in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in Afghanistan during the period 1 October 2011 to 31 March 2012".[6]
In 2012, Jenkins was appointedmilitary assistant to theprime minister of the United Kingdom.[7] On 1 July 2015, he was promoted from acting to fullbrigadier.[8] He went on to becomeDeputy National Security Adviser for Conflict, Stability and Defence in 2016,[9] commander3 Commando Brigade in 2017,[10] andAssistant Chief of the Naval Staff (Policy) in 2019.[2] From 2021 to 2022, he served asDirector Special Forces.[11] Jenkins was appointed aCompanion of the Order of the Bath in the2021 New Year Honours.[12]
Jenkins was promoted togeneral on 30 August 2022, skipping the rank oflieutenant general,[13] and took up the post ofVice-Chief of the Defence Staff.[14] He is the firstRoyal Marine full general since 2016, afterGordon Messenger, and the second since 1977. At the same time he was made anAide-de-Camp to Queen Elizabeth II.[13] Jenkins also becameCommandant General Royal Marines on 25 November, succeeding Lieutenant GeneralRobert Magowan. Jenkins became the first full general to serve as Commandant General since the 1970s.[15][16]
On 23 April 2024 thePrime Minister,Rishi Sunak announced that Jenkins would become the United Kingdom's nextNational Security Advisor.[17] However, on 26 August 2024The Guardian reported that the appointment had been cancelled by the new prime minister,Keir Starmer.[18] Jenkins was appointedKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the2025 New Year Honours.[19]
In May 2025 investigation carried out by the BBC'sPanorama revealed that a Special Forces officer appointed by Jenkins personally rejected 1,585 UK resettlement applications from Afghan army personnel who had served with the SAS.[20] It was claimed that the officer instructed civil service caseworkers to reject the applications on spurious grounds. This was controversial because in the UK they could have been called as witnesses to thepublic inquiry into the extrajudicial killings, but the inquiry has no power to compel testimony from foreign nationals who are overseas.[11]
In May 2025 Jenkins was appointed asFirst Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff. He is the first Royal Marine to hold this role.[21]
In July 2025,The Daily Telegraph reported that Jenkins "was at the heart of a national security incident" when a Royal Marine under his command made an accidentaldata breach in February 2022 revealing details of 25,000 Afghans who had applied to be resettled in Britain, which led to theAfghan Response Route classified immigration programme intended to relocate affected Afghans. The Telegraph reported that "Downing Street blocked news reports" about this coming out, and cancelled his already announced appointment asNational Security Adviser to the Prime Minister, and instead promoted him to First Sea Lord.[22]
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (Policy) 2019–2020 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Director Special Forces 2021–2022 | Succeeded by Unknown |
| Preceded by | Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff 2022–2024 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Commandant General Royal Marines 2022–present | Incumbent |
| Preceded by | First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff 2025–present | Incumbent |
