UKColumn
The Ditchley Foundation: A Lesser-Known But Strong Factor in World Governance Circles
Little is said in legacy media, or even in alt-media, about the UK-based Ditchley Foundation, yet it meets up to 12 times a year, far more often th...
The Ditchley Foundation: A Lesser-Known But Strong Factor in World Governance Circles
Routine research into an obscure honorary position within the Bilderberg Group revealed a far-less-discussed grouping — the UK-based Ditchley Foundation — which, from an American perspective, radiated like a rather new outfit at first, but somewhat surprisingly is actually only a tad younger than Bilderberg.
This UK Column writer, a follower of the Bilderbergers’ machinations since 2010, also found that, while Ditchley’s ideological kinship with Bilderberg resembles the Trilateral Commission’s relationship with Bilderberg — as if the Trilaterals and Ditchley are its younger philosophical siblings — Ditchley has its own distinct flavour and is seen as a 'magnificent crucible of ideas'.
That’s how the then UK Ambassador to the US, Lord Peter Mandelson, upon delivering the keynote speech at Ditchley’s Annual Lecture in September 2025, described Ditchley, which was founded by the well-regarded philanthropist Sir David Wills (1917-1999), a devoutly Christian descendant of Imperial Tobacco’s founding family. He established the parent Ditchley Foundation in the UK in 1958, whereas Bilderberg was founded in 1954.
It’s an open question whether Mr Wills, given the accounts of his warm personality and solid values, would have wanted Ditchley to largely become a geopolitical think tank that focuses a lot on war.
That above-noted honorary Bilderberg position, by the way, was 'American secretary general', which Bilderberg’s hopelessly opaque media department — upon finally answering an email from this writer — said has been abolished. The position had been occupied over several years, but only by six people. Georgetown University diplomacy professor Casimir Yost was the last person to fill it.
But Mr Yost evidently is not resting on his globalist laurels, as he is one of 32 directors of Ditchley’s American affiliate, formed in 1964. (A Canadian branch was founded in 1981).
This US linkage fits into a longtime, defining theme of the Ditchley Foundation: to improve Anglo-American relations — the very topic which Lord Mandelson largely focused on at that Annual Lecture — which is especially relevant since mid-2026 will mark the 250th anniversary of America’s Declaration of Independence from the British Monarchy.
Mandelson stated at that lecture: "[O]nce Britain had recognised America’s independence, our two nations gradually discovered we had more in common than in dispute—notwithstanding the temporary setback of the War of 1812".
And while Mandelson didn’t happen to state at the lecture that a Bank of England-style central bank was set up in the US in the War of 1812’s aftermath to inaugurate perhaps humankind’s most implacable enemy — a debt-based money system — he did add the following item, which turned out to be true as the baton of world empire eventually passed from British to American hands: "At the Treaty of Paris celebrations in 1783 a French guest predicted that the thirteen American states would form the world’s greatest empire".
UKColumn
25.11.25
#ukcolumn
