Description
TLC via GOOGLE MEET
TUESDAY 29th September 2026 18:00 BST
Readying the Royal Navy for warfighting
General Sir Gwyn Jenkins KCB OBE ADC RM
The tremendous start our Q3/4 Autumn programme continues and indeed it is a huge privilege to welcome the First Sea Lord (ISL) to TLC tonight. This continues a marvallous tradition of having presentations from the most senior ranks of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines (since 2010. In fact our first speaker away from Liverpool was Maj Gen Andy Salmon CMG OBE RM and the venue was Britannia Royal Naval College hosted by the then Commandant and TLC member Commodore Jake Moores OBE DL RN) and it is therefore a particular pleasure to welcome the first First Sea Lord drawn from the prestigious Royal Marines.
General Sir Gwyn could not be addressing us at a more challenging time in modern post war history and we greatly look forward, with anticipation, to his address.
Once again we are running this once again as a live/online event in conjunction with our great friends and TLC members at Red Hat. This will be our will be our 3rd Live/online event and as last time we will be using Red Hat’s Google Meet Video conferencing system and also live hosted at Red Hat’s offices. Would you like to attend?
You will be provided with the Google Meet link in due course BUT if you would like to attend in person then PLEASE LET ME KNOW and I will inform Nigel Benwell at Red Hat accordingly. The venue will be The Westminster Room, Red Hat, 20 York Road, London SE1 78D
So, as said our timing could not be better and we greatly look forward to hearing from General Sir Gwyn.
Biography
General Gwyn commissioned into the Royal Marines in 1990. His time as a junior officer was spent in the Commando Logistics Regiment, competing for the Royal Navy and Royal Marines in cross-country skiing and on operations in Northern Ireland with 42 Commando RM.
A graduate of the Advanced Command and Staff Course at the Military College Shrivenham, where he completed a master’s degree in Defence Studies in 2004, he went on to serve as a Lieutenant Colonel overseeing global operations in PJHQ, before a Commanding Officer appointment in 2009. On completion of his command tour, he was promoted to Colonel and deployed for 12 months to Afghanistan, for which he was awarded an OBE, returning to the UK in 2012 as the Military Assistant to the Prime Minister in No 10 Downing Street.
After two years in No. 10, he completed the Higher Command and Staff Course, was promoted to Brigadier, and took up a 3* civilian appointment in the Cabinet Office as Deputy National Security Advisor for Conflict, Stability and Defence. In April 2017 he moved back to the military and took command of 3 Commando Brigade, conducting exercises and overseeing operational deployments around the world. He was promoted to Major General in January 2019, in which rank he served first in the Royal Navy as the Assistant Chief of Naval Staff and subsequently commanded a tri-service organisation.
In August 2022 he was appointed the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff and promoted to General. In November 2022, General Gwyn was appointed Commandant General of the
Royal Marines. In August 2024, General Gwyn was made a Strategic Advisor to the Secretary of State for Defence. In this role, he has negotiated the UK’s Defence Agreement with Germany and cohered the UK’s strategic partnership with Norway.
In May 2025 he became the first Royal Marine to be appointed to his current role as First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff. He lives with his wife and children and enjoys a range
of activities including sailing, skiing, and creative writing.
