Nicholas Coleridge

Sir Nicholas David Coleridge CBE DL (born 4 March 1957) is a British former media executive, author, and chair of cultural institutions.

From 1989 to 2019, he was successively editorial director of Condé Nast Britain, managing director, Condé Nast Britain (1991–2017), vice president, Condé Nast International and president, Condé Nast International, the division of Condé Nast which publishes 139 magazines in 27 international markets, and over 100 websites. Coleridge initiated the Condé Nast College of Fashion and Design in 2013, a degree-awarding academic institution in London's Soho. From 2017 to 2019, he was chairman of Condé Nast Britain. He has been chairman of the Victoria and Albert Museum since 2015, having been a trustee from 2012 to 2015. He has been chairman of the Prince of Wales' Campaign for Wool since 2013 (deputy chair 2008–2013), chairman of the Gilbert Trust for the Arts and was co-chair of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Pageant, a complex event with more than 10,000 military from the UK and Commonwealth, and performers from across the nation. He is an ambassador for the Landmark Trust and a patron of the Elephant Family. In October 2023, it was announced that Coleridge was to take over from William Waldergrave as Provost of Eton College in September 2024.

Quotes

• Eton made a much more profound impact on me than Cambridge, which I would say really made none, and all my attitudes and real friends were made at Eton. The friendships I made at Eton provide the entire infrastructure for my life now. It is probably true to say that of the 10 close male friends I have, certainly eight are Etonians, and I have not the slightest doubt that it will remain so until I die.
  I am bound to say that if I meet somebody that I have never met before, for example, if I am travelling abroad, or through work or something, and it emerges that they were at Eton, I feel an interest in them that is multiplied by at least 10. There are certain people who weren't there, and I do admit that in some strange and awful way I think, "Now, why weren't they?" and that it counts against them slightly. If we are being completely candid, I do accept that I prefer the company of Etonians to the company of people from any other school in the world.
  • From Eton Voices (1988), as cited in "Sir Nicholas Coleridge on how Eton made him the man he is today", The Telegraph (5 October 2023)