Elizabeth Buchanan

Biography

Elizabeth Buchanan was a non-executive board member of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from March 2018 to March 2023.

Elizabeth Buchanan is currently a Special Adviser to Waitrose, Saputo UK and McDonald’s. She also manages the family’s 250 acre organic livestock farm in East Sussex which produces pedigree Sussex beef and has been owned by the family since 1976. She is a Trustee of the Prince’s Countryside Fund.

She is a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Societies, Vice-President of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, President of The South of England Agricultural Society (2022), sits on the BBC Rural Affairs Committee, is a Senior Associate of the Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership and a trustee of the Smith School for Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford University.

Elizabeth was formerly Press Secretary to Lady Thatcher (1992-98) and worked for TRH The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall (1998-2008) responsible for His Royal Highness’s interests in agriculture and the environment, relations with the business community and The Prince’s Trust. She was appointed Private Secretary to The Prince of Wales from 2005-2008.

Previous roles in government

  • Non-executive board member