Sir Ivor Anthony Roberts, KCMG, MA Oxford, FCIL (born 24 September 1946) is President of Trinity College, Oxford and was formerly British Ambassador to Yugoslavia, Ireland, and Italy. He was knighted in 2000.
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Born in Liverpool, Roberts was educated at St Mary's College, Crosby and the University of Oxford (Keble College, now Honorary Fellow), earning a degree in Modern Languages in 1968 and taking his MA in 1972.
Roberts joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) as Third Secretary in 1968. He went to study Arabic at MECAS in the Lebanon in 1969, and was posted to Paris in 1970. He was acting Head of Chancery in Luxembourg in 1973 before returning later that year to the FCO to serve firstly in Eastern European and Soviet Department (Balkans desk), then in Western European Department (German desk) and subsequently in European Integration Department, where he worked on the European Community's Common Agricultural Policy and the European Parliament. He was appointed First Secretary at the British High Commission in Canberra in 1978.[1] In 1980 he was posted temporarily to the newly independent Pacific state of Vanuatu (formerly New Hebrides) as Political Adviser at the time of a rebellion. He returned to Canberra as Head of the Economic and Commercial Department and Agricultural Adviser until 1982. He then returned to London and took up the post of Deputy Head of News Department in the FCO.[2]
From 1989 to 1993 he was Minister in the British Embassy in Madrid. He was appointed Chargé d'Affaires and Consul-General in Belgrade in March 1994, and after recognition of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia by the United Kingdom, he became Ambassador. During his time in Belgrade he conducted negotiations on behalf of the international mediators (David Owen and Carl Bildt) with both the Yugoslav authorities and the Bosnian Serbs.[3]
He was also involved in the negotiations for the release of British soldiers held hostage by the Bosnian Serbs in May/June 1995. He left Belgrade at the end of 1997. In 1998-99 he took a sabbatical year as Senior Associate Member of St Antony's College, Oxford. He was appointed Ambassador to Ireland 1999–2003, and to Italy in March 2003. He retired from the HM Diplomatic Service in September 2006 upon his election as the President of Trinity College, Oxford.[4]
On 24 September 2006 (his 60th birthday), The Observer's Pendennis column reported that following his outspoken valedictory report, the FCO has abandoned the centuries-old tradition of allowing departing diplomats to speak their minds. In April 2007, The Independent confirmed the story.[5]
Ivor Roberts is the Chairman of the Council of the British School at Rome and a Patron of the Venice in Peril Fund. He also chairs the Board of the King's College Group in Madrid and is a Member of the International Advisory Board of The Independent News and Media Group.
He married Elizabeth Smith, a scholar of French poetry and former diplomat of the Australian Foreign Service, in 1974. The couple had two sons and a daughter. She is a writer and lecturer on Balkan politics.[6]
In 2009, Roberts edited the sixth edition of Satow's Diplomatic Practice, originally written in 1917 by Sir Ernest Satow and widely used in embassies throughout the world (Oxford University Press: 2009; ISBN 978-0-19-9559275). It was reviewed by Sir Jeremy Greenstock later the same year.[7]
| Diplomatic posts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by John Shepherd |
HM Ambassador to Italy 2003-2006 |
Succeeded by Edward Chaplin |
| Preceded by Veronica Sutherland |
UK Ambassador to Ireland 1999-2003 |
Succeeded by Stewart Eldon |
| Preceded by New Mission |
HM Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 1994-1997 |
Succeeded by Brian Donnelly |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by Michael Beloff |
President of Trinity College, Oxford 2006– |
Succeeded by incumbent |
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