Jersey bailiff says role was 'incredibly eventful'

Sir Timothy Le Cocq is retiring from his role as bailiff

The outgoing Jersey bailiff has said his time in the role had been "an incredibly eventful time" having retired after six years.

Sir Timothy Le Cocq took up the role on 17 October 2019 and received a knighthood from Her Majesty The Queen in 2022. He also welcomed the King on his first royal visit to the island last year.

Mr Le Cocq also lead the island in mourning following the death of the Queen and also during the Haut du Mont and fishing tragedies in 2022.

He said: "You don't walk around feeling the weight of history on your shoulders, when you step back and think, 'actually that was quite an incredible time', then you do - you just do what you have to do."

The bailiff of Jersey is the president of the States and acts as speaker with responsibility for the orderly conduct of the States Assembly and its business.

The role is also president of the Royal Court of Jersey and civic head of the island with responsibility for official communication with the United Kingdom authorities.

Robert MacRae will be appointed as Jersey's 91st bailiff on Friday 24 October.

Mr Le Cocq said he had enjoyed his time but had mixed feelings about retiring.

He said: "It's not a decision that I took lightly - I could have stayed for another year or so, but I thought six years in the job was the right thing to do.

"It has been an incredibly eventful time, so one part of me is sad that I'll be hanging up the mantle, but on the other side I get my evenings and my weekends back."

Sir Timothy Le Cocq said it had been an honour to show off Jersey to the King and Queen

When King Charles III and Queen Camilla came to visit in 2024, Mr Le Cocq said it was one of the moments in his role he would remember forever.

He said: "I'm told that the King still talks about it with an element of amusement even to this day.

"They were incredibly warmly received, there was a period where the rain wasn't there and then all of a sudden it was.

"Charming people as you would expect and that will be one of the signal moments I suppose of my time, the ability to greet the King and Queen."

The outgoing bailiff also said he had considered writing a book about his time in office.

"Most of it is simply historical information, dates, I did this, I did that, the other things behind the scenes, some not terribly interesting and some not really to be spoken about."