Francis Leveson Bertie, 1st Viscount Bertie of Thame GCB GCMG GCVO PC ( /ˈbɑrtɪ əv ˈteɪm/ "barty of tame";[1] 17 August 1844 – 26 September 1919) was a British diplomat. He was Ambassador to Italy between 1903 and 1905 and Ambassador to France between 1905 and 1918.
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Bertie was the second son of Montagu Bertie, 6th Earl of Abingdon, and Elizabeth Harcourt, daughter of George Harcourt. He was educated at Eton.
Bertie entered the Foreign Office in 1863. From 1874 to 1880 he served as Private Secretary to Robert Bourke, the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and in 1878 attended the Congress of Berlin. He served as acting senior clerk in the Eastern department from 1882 to 1885, and then later as senior clerk and assistant under-secretary in that department. In 1902 he was rewarded for his services by being made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.
In 1903, Bertie was appointed a Privy Counsellor and made Ambassador to Italy, and then in 1905 became Ambassador to France, a post previously held by his father-in-law, Lord Cowley. Bertie would hold the Paris embassy for the next thirteen years. Having spent most of his career in the Foreign Office, he initially had some trouble adjusting to the role of ambassador, where he had far less control over the development of policy. But in his time at Paris Bertie was able to play a substantial role in strengthening the Entente Cordiale between France and Britain into a genuine alliance, encouraging strong British backing for France during the Moroccan Crises of 1905 and 1911. During these years, he was also showered with honors, being made GCVO in 1903, GCMG in 1904, and GCB in 1908, as well as receiving the French Legion of Honor.
Bertie was still ambassador in Paris when the First World War broke out in 1914. Although he was raised to the peerage as Baron Bertie of Thame, in the County of Oxford, in 1915, during the war he was frequently bypassed by special missions directly from the British government, particularly the military mission of Lord Esher, with whom he also came into personal conflict. When Bertie fell ill in April 1918, he was replaced by the Secretary of State for War, Lord Derby, and returned to England. On his retirement, Bertie was made Viscount Bertie of Thame, in the County of Oxford. He never fully recovered from his illness, dying in London on 26 September 1919.
Bertie married Lady Feodorowna Cecilia Wellesley (1838-1920), daughter of Henry Wellesley, 1st Earl Cowley and grandniece of the Duke of Wellington, in 1874. They had one child Vere, who succeeded in the viscountcy.
| Diplomatic posts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by The Lord Currie |
British Ambassador to Italy 1903–1905 |
Succeeded by Edwin Egerton |
| Preceded by Sir Edmund Monson |
British Ambassador to France 1905–1918 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Derby |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Viscount Bertie of Thame 1918–1919 |
Succeeded by Vere Frederick Bertie |
| Baron Bertie of Thame 1915–1919 |
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