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List of ambassadors of the United Kingdom to France facts for kids

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British Ambassador
to France
L'Ambassadeur britannique en France
Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government) (2022).svg
Menna Rawlings.jpg
Incumbent
Menna Rawlings

since 9 August 2021
Style Her Excellency
Reports to Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Residence Hôtel de Charost
Seat Paris, France
Appointer The Crown
on advice of the Prime Minister
Term length At His Majesty's pleasure
Inaugural holder The Marquess Cornwallis (first ambassador of the United Kingdom to France, 1801)
Website British Embassy - Paris

The British Ambassador to France is the United Kingdom's foremost diplomatic representative in France, and is the head of Britain's diplomatic mission in Paris. The official title is His Majesty's Ambassador to France.

Traditionally, the Embassy to France has been the most prestigious posting in the British foreign service, although in past centuries, diplomatic representation was lacking due to wars between the two countries and the Nazi occupation.

For the period before the creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801, see List of ambassadors of the Kingdom of England to France (up to 1707) and List of ambassadors of Great Britain to France (from 1707 to 1800).

The Paris embassy also covers remotely the French overseas territories (including French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Réunion, French Polynesia, Mayotte, Wallis and Futuna, New Caledonia, Saint-Barthélemy) and Monaco.

Besides the embassy, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office maintains consulates in Bordeaux and Marseille in southern France.

British Ambassadors and Ministers to France

There was no representation of Great Britain or the United Kingdom in France from 1792 to 1801, due to the French Revolutionary Wars
No representation from 1803 to 1814, due to the Napoleonic Wars
No representation from 1940 to 1944, due to the German occupation of France during the Second World War
  • 1944–1948: Sir Alfred Duff Cooper, (previously Representative to the Free French in Algiers from 1943)
  • 1948–1954: Sir Oliver Harvey
  • 1954–1960: Sir Gladwyn Jebb
  • 1960–1965: Sir Pierson Dixon
  • 1965–1968: Sir Patrick Reilly
  • 1968–1972: Sir Christopher Soames
  • 1972–1975: Sir Edward Tomkins
  • 1975–1979: Sir Nicholas Henderson
  • 1979–1982: Sir Reginald Hibbert
  • 1982–1987: Sir John Fretwell
  • 1987–1993: Sir Ewen Fergusson
  • 1993–1996: Sir Christopher Mallaby
  • 1996–2001: Sir Michael Jay
  • 2001–2007: Sir John Holmes
  • 2007–2012: Sir Peter Westmacott
  • 2012–2015: Sir Peter Ricketts
  • 2016–2016: Sir Julian King
  • 2016–2021: Edward Llewellyn, Baron Llewellyn of Steep OBE

See also

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