Janet Royall, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon

The Right Honourable The Baroness Royall of Blaisdon PC
Principal of Somerville College, Oxford
Incumbent
Assumed office August 2017
Leader of the Opposition in the Lords Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
In office 11 May 2010 – 27 May 2015
Leader	Harriet Harman (Acting) Ed Miliband
Preceded by	The Lord Strathclyde
Succeeded by	The Baroness Smith of Basildon
Ministerial offices 2005-2010 Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster In office 5 June 2009 – 11 May 2010 Prime Minister Gordon Brown Preceded by Liam Byrne Succeeded by The Lord Strathclyde Leader of the House of Lords In office 3 October 2008 – 11 May 2010 Prime Minister Gordon Brown Preceded by The Baroness Ashton of Upholland Succeeded by The Lord Strathclyde Lord President of the Council In office 2 October 2008 – 5 June 2009 Prime Minister Gordon Brown Preceded by The Baroness Ashton of Upholland Succeeded by The Lord Mandelson Chief Whip of the House of Lords Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms In office 24 January 2008 – 3 October 2008 Prime Minister Gordon Brown Preceded by The Lord Grocott Succeeded by The Lord Bassam of Brighton Baroness-in-waiting Government Whip In office 10 May 2005 – 25 January 2008 Prime Minister Tony Blair Gordon Brown Preceded by The Lord Triesman Succeeded by The Baroness Thornton
Members of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
Incumbent
Assumed office 25 June 2004 Life Peerage
Personal details
Born	(1955-08-20) 20 August 1955 Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England
Political party	Labour and Co-operative
Spouse	Stuart Hercock ​ ​ (m. 1980; died 2010)​
Children	3
Alma mater	Westfield College, London

Janet Anne Royall, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, PC (born 20 August 1955), is a British Labour Co-operative Party politician. Royall was appointed to the House of Lords in 2004, having stood unsuccessfully to be MEP for The Cotswolds and MP for Ogmore. She was Leader of the House of Lords for the last eighteen months of Gordon Brown's premiership. Royall currently serves as the Principal of Somerville College, Oxford; it was announced that she would be standing down from that role at the end of the 2024/25 academic year at the age of 70.

Education and early political career

Royall grew up in Gloucestershire in Hucclecote and Newnham on Severn and was educated at the Royal Forest of Dean Grammar School and Westfield College, London, where she gained a BA degree in Spanish and French in 1977.

Royall was a special adviser to Neil Kinnock, the leader of the Labour Party, in the 1980s, and she has remained a close ally of his ever since. In 1984, Royall stood to be MEP for The Cotswolds, finishing third with 20.7% of the vote. She sought selection as Labour's candidate for Ogmore in a 2002 by-election, losing to Huw Irranca-Davies. In 2003 she became head of the European Commission office in Wales; her appointment was criticised at the time as "an inappropriate political appointment".

House of Lords

On 25 June 2004, she was created a life peer as Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, of Blaisdon in the County of Gloucestershire. She spoke for the Labour party on Health, International Development and Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.

On 24 January 2008 Royall was appointed government chief whip in the House of Lords, on the resignation of Lord Grocott. She was appointed a Privy Counsellor later in the year. On 3 October 2008, she was appointed to the cabinet by Gordon Brown, as Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council. On 5 June 2009, Royall was succeeded as Lord President by Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, and was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

She voted for a 100% elected House, on the last occasion that the House of Lords voted on Reform of the House of Lords in March 2007. She has called for a national referendum on any reforms of the chamber.

In September 2012, she spoke out against the proposed badger cull.

She announced in May 2015 that she would not seek re-election as the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords.

In 2016, she chaired an investigation into allegations of antisemitism in Oxford University Labour Club and was subsequently one of two Vice-Chairs of the Chakrabarti Inquiry into antisemitism in the UK Labour Party.

Jan Royall in 2024

Principal of Somerville College

In February 2017, Somerville College, Oxford, announced the selection of Baroness Royall as its next principal. She succeeded Alice Prochaska at the end of August 2017. In 2019, Royall attracted media attention following her decision to remove octopus from the college menu and supported the introduction of gender-neutral toilets. As Principal, Royall implemented mandatory unconscious bias training in which students were asked to concede that a black lecturer is more likely to be disliked by the students than her white colleagues, leading to criticism from Toby Young of the Free Speech Union. She also oversaw an expansion of scholarship provision at Somerville College and initiated outreach to local primary schools. Royall served as Chair of Conference of Colleges from 2020-23, and for two years prior as Deputy Chair. In 2021, Royall led a campaign for Somerville to become a College of Sanctuary, offering a pathway to Oxford for students displaced by war or internal unrest. The University of Oxford has now adopted this campaign, forming a Community of Sanctuary. In May 2024 Royall instructed Thames Valley Police, who were monitoring pro-Palestine protests, to leave the grounds of Somerville College.

Board Roles

Baroness Royall is co-chair of Oxford Inclusive Economy Paternership. She was previously Chair of the Oxford Strategic Partnership. Baroness Royall is currently serving as a trustee of Full Fact, a team of independent fact checkers.

Personal life

She was married to Stuart Hercock from 1980 until his death in 2010, and has a daughter, Charlie, and two sons, Ned and Harry.

External links

• Profile at www.parliament.uk
• Baroness Royall of Blaisdon from Dod Online
• The Rt Hon the Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, PC at Debrett's People of Today