Ivor Roberts (ambassador)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sir Ivor Roberts, KCMG (born 1946) is the British ambassador to Italy.

Born in Liverpool, Roberts was educated at Oxford, earning a degree in modern languages in 1968 before joining the Foreign Office. He became the United Kingdom's first ambassador to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on its recognition as a state. Serving as the ambassador to the Republic of Ireland, be became the ambassador to Italy in March 2003.

In 2000 he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (KCMG).

On the 18th September 2004 he sparked controversy by describing George W Bush as the terrorist organisation Al-Qaeda's "best recruiting sergeant".

On 24th September 2006, the Observer's Pendennis column reported that following his outspoken valedictory report, the Foreign Office has abandoned the centuries-old tradition.

He is married to a former foreign diplomat of the Australian Foreign Service who lectures and writes on Balkan politics. They have two sons and a daughter.

In May 2005, he was confirmed as the next President of Trinity College, Oxford, term starting on 30 September 2006.