Photograph of Lord Knollys: three-quarters length portrait, seated and turned to his right. Francis Knollys, first Viscount Knollys was a British courtier. He served as Private Secretary to King Edward VII and George V from 1901 to 1913; he was Edward VII's private secretary and confidant, as was his sister Charlotte Knollys, private secretary to Queen Alexandra. Their father also served Queen Victoria and Edward VII when Prince of Wales in his early adulthood..