Sir Alexander Younger
Born: July 4, 1963;
Died: June 2, 2026
Sir Alexander Younger, who has died of pancreatic cancer aged 62, ran with a calm authority the UK’s external intelligence service, the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), better known as MI6.
The job demands a mixture of cool discretion, political savvy, technical expertise and an ability to guard the country’s secrets. As C – chief of the SIS – he delighted in appearing normal: outwardly charming, amusing and modest while underneath the veneer there was a determined mind that was focused, incorruptible and sharp. He was also extremely good at his job.
From 2014-2020, Younger as ‘C’ continued the tradition of signing documents with his initials in green ink and he gave his pen to Ralph Fiennes (playing M) when he toured the set of No Time to Die, on his retirement in 2020. Typically, Younger turned down the offer of a cameo appearance in the film.
In 2018 he gave a rare lecture at his alma mater, St Andrews University, in the Buchanan Theatre. He principally focused on “fourth generation espionage, that seamlessly fuses human intelligence with advanced technical innovation”. He also encouraged the students to consider a career in espionage and wanted “to debunk stereotypes about MI6”. Younger mentioned that the Novichok poison which had been administered to Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury was analysed by MI5 and “we exposed the perpetrators and co-ordinated the largest-ever collective expulsion of Russian intelligence officers.”
During Covid, Younger had a fascinating zoom-call with Lord Campbell of Pittenweem (then the university’s chancellor) when he spoke warmly of his time at St Andrews and the need “to ensure our intelligence service is governed by the law”.
Alexander William Younger was the first son of Nicholas Younger, a scion of the Scottish brewing dynasty and a distant cousin of George Younger, defence secretary under Margaret Thatcher. He attended Marlborough College and then read economics and computer science at St Andrews. It was there he was first contacted by the SIS. The prospect fascinated him, “I love the fact that individuals can make a difference … there are times of a Boy’s Own sense of excitement.” After four years in the Scots Guards, he did join MI6 and worked in clandestine matters for a quarter of a century.
In 1993 he married Sarah Hopkins at her parents’ villa in Tuscany. It caused a minor stir as the couple emerged from the church to the skirl of the pipes. His wife was astonished that he simply described himself to family and friends as a civil servant. She insisted he, at least, told his mother that he was a spy. So he did. “Yes, darling, so was I,” his mother replied.
His first posting for MI6 was in the Balkans in the 1990s. Under an assumed name, in disguise his underground action led “to the arrest and prosecution of war criminals involved in the murder of hundreds of thousands of people”.
As a case officer Younger saw dangerous underground work in Bosnia, Afghanistan and Vienna. He was much involved in the intricacies of getting the West’s valuable double agent Oleg Gordievsky out of Moscow in 1985 and transported through Finland to London.
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Two years after his success at maintaining a trouble-free London Olympics, he was appointed C. It was a troubled time with political and social unrest worldwide. Unrest in northern Syria and Iraq, Russia had annexed Crimea and cyberwarfare was becoming widespread. It is thought that it was Younger who convinced Boris Johnson to play a prominent role after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Younger was keen to open up the business of espionage and demystify it and to this end he often appeared on the Today Programme, Newsnight, and other programmes. In the month he died he appeared as a judge in a Masterchef programme filmed in the Old War Office in Whitehall.
The Prince of Wales posted a personal message on hearing of Younger’s death. “Alex Younger embodied the very best of what the Secret Intelligence Service stands for with integrity, courage, and an unwavering commitment to protecting this country and its people.”
He retained a deep love of Scotland and had a constant reminder in a tapestry by Elizabeth Blackadder on his office wall at MI6’s HQ. “I often look at it in meetings,” he said. “However well you know it, you can always find new patterns.”
He maintained as normal a life as possible – often jogging on the towpath of the Thames near the SIS office – and enjoyed a pawky sense of humour; for example he nicknamed his cancer “Putin”.
He was knighted in 2019 and did much to debunk the glamour of sleuthing. In a recent broadcast he quipped: “The pay’s not good, none of us are beautiful and the cars are crap.”
He is survived by his wife and their son and daughter. Another son died in a car accident in Stirlingshire in 2019.
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