Christopher Tolkien has resigned as a director of the Tolkien Estate.
According to Companies House, Christopher Reuel Tolkien stood down as a director of both The Tolkien Estate Limited and The Tolkien Trust on 31 August 2017.
Christopher, who turns 93 this month, is J.R.R. Tolkien’s third son and was appointed literary executor upon his father’s death.
The news of his resignation does not come as a complete surprise. In the preface to Beren and Lúthien, published earlier this year, he wrote:
In my ninety-third year this is (presumptively) my last book in the long series of editions of my father’s writings, very largely previously unpublished, and is of a somewhat curious nature.
Since J.R.R. Tolkien’s death in 1973, Christopher has posthumously published some 24 books of his father’s writings, including The Silmarillion (1977), Unfinished Tales (1980), the 12-volume History of Middle-earth series (1983–96), The Children of Húrin (2007), and Beren and Lúthien (2017). In addition to Tolkien’s Middle-earth writings, Christopher has also edited a selection of his father’s academic works.
The Tolkien Society sends its heartfelt thanks and gratitude to Christopher for his work and dedication to his father’s legacy.
UPDATE: It is understood that Christopher remains the literary executor.
