List of ambassadors of the United Kingdom to France

The Ambassador of the United Kingdom to France (French: L'Ambassadeur britannique en France) is the United Kingdom's foremost diplomatic representative in France, and is the head of the UK's diplomatic mission in Paris. The official title is Her Britannic 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 often lacking due to wars between the two countries.

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

As of 2012, the Ambassador of the United Kingdom to France is His Excellency Sir Peter Ricketts.

British Ambassadors and Ministers to France

The Ambassador of Great Britain to France (French: L'Ambassadeur britannique en France) was the foremost diplomatic representative in France of the Kingdom of Great Britain, created by the Treaty of Union in 1707, in charge of the British diplomatic mission in France.

Traditionally, the Embassy to France was the most prestigious posting in the English and later British foreign services, although in the eighteenth century there was sometimes no diplomatic representation between the two countries, due to the wars between them.

Ambassadors and Ministers of Great Britain to France

• No permanent representation of the Kingdom of Great Britain, or of its predecessor the Kingdom of England, to France between 1701 and 1712, due to the War of the Spanish Succession.^[1]
  • 1709: Charles Townshend, Viscount Townshend Plenipotentiary^[1]
• 1712: The Duke of Hamilton (Never took office, being killed in a duel before setting off.)
  • 1712-1715: Matthew Prior, Plenipotentiary^[1]
• 1712-1713: The Duke of Shrewsbury^[1]
• 1714-1720: The Earl of Stair, Minister-Plenipotentiary 1714-1715; Envoy Extraordinary 1715; then Ambassador^[1]
• 1720-1721: Sir Robert Sutton, Ambassador^[1]
• 1721-1724: Sir Luke Schaub^[1]
• 1724-1730: The Lord Walpole of Wolterton Envoy Extraordinary 1724; Ambassador Extraordinary 1724-1727; Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary 1727-1730^[1]
• 1730-1740: The Earl Waldegrave^[1]
• 1740-1744: Anthony Thompson, Chargé d'Affaires^[1]
• no representation 1744-1748 due to the War of the Austrian Succession
• 1749-1754: The Earl of Albemarle^[1]
• no representation 1754-1762 due to the Seven Years' War
  • 1761: Hans Stanley, Minister: special mission to negotatiate peace^[1]
• 1762-1763: The Duke of Bedford^[1]
• 1763-1765: The Earl of Hertford^[1]
• 1765-1766: The Duke of Richmond^[1]
• 1766-1768: The Earl of Rochford^[1]
• 1768-1772: The Earl Harcourt^[1]
• 1772-1778: The Viscount Stormont^[1]
• no representation 1778-1782 due to American Revolutionary War
• 1782: Thomas Grenville, Minister^[1]
• 1782-1783: Alleyne Fitzherbert, Minister Plenipotentiary^[1]
• 1783-1784: The Duke of Manchester^[1]
• 1784-1789: The Duke of Dorset^[1][2]
• 1790-1792: Earl Gower^[2]
• No representation after 1792, due to the French Revolutionary Wars
  • 1797: James Harris, Baron Malmesbury, Plenipotentiary^[2]

There was no representation of Great Britain or the United Kingdom in France from 1792 to 1801, due to the French Revolutionary Wars

• 1801-1802: The Marquess Cornwallis, Plenipotentiary
• 1802-1803: The Lord Whitworth^[2]

No representation from 1803 to 1814, due to the Napoleonic Wars

• 1806: Francis Seymour-Conway, Earl of Yarmouth and James Maitland, Earl of Lauderdale, Plenipotentiaries ^[2]

• 1814-1815: The Duke of Wellington^[2]
• 1815-1824: Sir Charles Stuart^[2]
• 1824-1828: The Viscount Granville ^[2]
• 1828-1830: The Lord Stuart de Rothesay ^[2]
• 1830-1835: The Viscount Granville^[2]
• 1835: The Lord Cowley^[2]
• 1835-1841: The Earl Granville^[2]
• 1841-1846: The Lord Cowley^[2]
• 1846-1852: The Marquess of Normanby^[2]
• 1852-1867: The Earl Cowley^[2]
• 1867-1887: The Viscount Lyons
• 1887-1891: The Earl of Lytton
• 1891-1896: The Marquess of Dufferin and Ava
• 1896-1905: Sir Edmund Monson^[3]
• 1905-1918: Sir Francis Bertie
• 1918-1920: The Earl of Derby
• 1920-1922: The Lord Hardinge of Penshurst
• 1922-1928: The Marquess of Crewe
• 1928-1934: Sir William Tyrrell
• 1934-1937: Sir George Clerk
• 1937-1939: Sir Eric Phipps
• 1939-1940: Sir Ronald Campbell

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: Sir Frederic Salusbury (Died in office)
• 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 Mallabyru:Кристофер Маллаби
• 1996-2001: Sir Michael Jay
• 2001-2007: Sir John Holmes
• 2007-2012: Sir Peter Westmacott
• 2012 to date: Sir Peter Ricketts

References

• List of Ambassadors to France since 1814