Lord John Marbury
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Lord John Marbury is a fictional character on the television show The West Wing, played by Roger Rees. Since 2001, he has served as the United Kingdom's Ambassador to the United States. He is usually called "Lord John Marbury" by both characters on and fans of The West Wing, a style that would be appropriate for the younger son of a Duke or Marquess, but his "full name" has been given as "John, Lord Marbury, Earl of Croy, Earl of Sherbourne, Marquess of Needham and Dolby, Baronet of Brycey", which would indicate that he was a Peer of the rank of Marquess. The two names given are not reconcilable: if he were the Marquess of Needham and Dolby he would be referred to as such, or as "Lord Needham", but never as "Lord John Marbury". As the United States is a republic, the majority of characters on the show would be unlikely to care. Lord John Marbury also ostentatiously (but phonetically) mispronounces the name of the Scottish isle where the whisky Lagavulin is distilled. He calls Islay "Iz-lay" rather than the correct "Eye-la".
Lord John Marbury is a descendant, on his mother's side of the family, of Princess Alice, the third child of Queen Victoria. This would make him a blood relative of both Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. His great great grandfather was a viceroy (presumably of either India or Ireland).
He was educated at the University of Cambridge and the University of Paris-La Sorbonne. He then joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as a diplomat. He served as the British Ambassador to both India and Pakistan, thus becoming a world-renowned expert on the affairs of the subcontinent. After thirteen years of service as an ambassador, he appears to have retired, until being called by his old friend and at this time President of the United States Josiah Bartlet for counsel regarding the Indian invasion of Pakistan in 2000.
Lord John is an extremely eccentric character, and appears to be constantly in an alcoholic stupor, even when he does not appear to have been drinking. Bartlet's Chief of Staff, Leo McGarry, dislikes him, believing him to be, among other things, a pompous and delusional, certifiable lunatic. Leo once sarcastically referred to Lord John as "Lord Fauntleroy." Lord John, for his part, refers to Leo as "Gerald", and pretends to mistake him for the White House butler.
Despite being a "lunatic Brit" (in the words of Joshua Lyman), Lord John was able to help President Bartlet negotiate a successful end to the Indian ground offensive. His rapport with the US President did not go unnoticed by the British Government, and they persuaded him to return to the service and become the British Ambassador to the United States. Marbury continued to serve in this capacity through the remainder of the Bartlet Administration, delighting President Bartlet and exasperating his staff. Whether he remained into the new Administration of the next President, Matthew Santos, was not revealed on the program, although, considering the Bartlet Administration's efforts in Kazakhstan, Lord John's expertise may have come in handy again.
On one subsequent occasion, Lord John undercut his own Government's foreign policy position and advised President Bartlet and his Administration to take a different course. The British Government sent him to protest the White House inviting Brendan McGann, a prominent Sinn Fein politician to attend a St. Patrick's Day ceremony, but privately told Toby Ziegler that keeping the invitation would help convince Ulster Protestants that they would have to negotiate with someone.
He was much more on-message when he helped Bartlet deal with the accidental destruction of a British airliner by the Iranian air force.
Lord John has upset some women—and President Bartlet—in the White House by making salacious comments, but First Lady Abbey Bartlet finds him charming. Josh's assistant Donna Moss asked him if there were any eligible bachelors in the British royal family. He did not name himself, but mentioned the Earl of Ulster, who was only five years old.
