Michael Rose ( British Army officer ) General Sir Hugh Michael Rose KCB , CBE , DSO , QGM ( born 1940 in what was then British India ) , often known as Mike Rose , is a retired British Army General . As well as commanding 22 Special Air Service Regiment , he was Commander UNPROFOR Bosnia in 1994 during the Yugoslav Wars . Early life . The stepson of British author John Masters , Rose was educated at Cheltenham College , St . Edmund Hall , Oxford , and the Sorbonne . He was commissioned into the Gloucestershire Regiment Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve ( TAVR ) in 1959 , and transferred to the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve ( RAFVR ) in 1962 . He joined the Coldstream Guards in 1964 . Military career . After attending the Staff College , Camberley , Rose became the Brigade Major 16th Parachute Brigade from 1973 until 1975 . He was Commanding Officer of the 22 SAS Regiment from 1979 to 1982 , as part of which he was in control of the operation to free the hostages of the Iranian Embassy Siege in 1980 . He commanded Special Service operations in - theatre during the Falkland Conflict . He then served as the commander of the 39th Infantry Brigade from 1983 to 1985 . In 1987 , Rose was the Commandant of the School of Infantry until 1988 , when he became the first Director Special Forces until 1989 . He attended the Royal College of Defence Studies . Rose was General Officer Commanding North East District and Commander 2nd Infantry Division based in York from 1989 to 1991 , and between 1991 and 1993 served as Commandant of the Staff College , Camberley . Then , from 1993 to 1994 , Rose was Commander UK Field Army and Inspector - General of the Territorial Army . Finally , from 1994 to 1995 he was Commander , United Nations Protection Force , Bosnia - Herzegovina . Rose became Adjutant - General and Aide - de - Camp General to The Queen in 1995 until he retired in 1997 . Rose was awarded the Queen ' s Gallantry Medal 1981 , made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire 1986 , was knighted with a knight Commander of the Order of the Bath 1994 , and received the Distinguished Service Order in 1995 . He had extensive experience worldwide , particularly in the Middle East , as a special forces officer . Rose served in Germany , Aden , Malaysia , the Gulf States , Dhofar , and in Northern Ireland and the Falkland Islands , for both of which he was Mentioned in Despatches . He was called as a witness by Serbia and Montenegro in a case held at the International Court of Justice . He was also " Colonel of the Regiment " of the Coldstream Guards . Other occupations . Rose is a director of Control Risks Group , a private security and consulting company . Opposition to Tony Blair . In 2006 he came once again to public attention when he criticised British Prime Minister Tony Blair , and called for his impeachment for leading the country to war in Iraq under false pretenses . This highlighted the unease felt in the highest levels of the British armed forces about the legality , and indeed the practicality , of the 2003 American - led invasion of Iraq . In 2007 , he called for the admission of defeat and withdrawal of Coalition forces from Iraq describing the war as " hopeless " and comparing the situation to that faced by the British during the American Revolutionary War . External links .