Sir Anthony Reeve, (20 October 1938 – 6 November 2014) was a British diplomat and ambassador.

Life and career

Anthony Reeve was born on 20 October 1938 in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, the son of Dorothy () and Sidney Reeve, a lay Methodist preacher. He was educated at

Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield Queen Elizabeth Grammar School (QEGS) is an independent, public school for boys in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. The school was founded by Royal Charter of Queen Elizabeth I in 1591 at the request of leading citizens in Wakefield (headed ...

and

Marling School Marling School is a grammar school with academy status for boys, with a co-educational Sixth Form located in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England. It is on the Cainscross Road, the main route out of Stroud towards the M5, and is situated next to the ...

, Stroud. He matriculated at

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of Oxford University, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the ...

in 1958 where he read English. After short stints at the Huddersfield glazing firm Heywood-Helliwell Ltd and Blackminster County Secondary School, Evesham, he entered

Lever Brothers Lever Brothers was a British manufacturing company founded in 1885 by two brothers: William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). They invested in and successfully promoted a new soap-making p ...

as a management trainee in 1962. In 1964 Reeve married Pamela Angus; they had three children, and divorced in 1988; she died in 2007. In 1965, Reeve joined the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

; he and his wife spent time studying Arabic at the Middle East Centre for Arabic Studies in Lebanon in the late 1960s. After postings to Abu Dhabi, where he was an assistant political agent, and to Cairo, in 1975 he became a political and military counsellor at the British Embassy in Washington, DC. During his time in the United States he wrote two light-hearted novels, ''Embassy'' and ''A Diplomatic Affair'', under the pseudonym James Horbury. In 1979 he was appointed head of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency at the Foreign Office. Between 1984 and 1988 Reeve served as Head of the Foreign Office's Southern Africa department and as Under-Secretary for Africa. Reeve was Britain's Ambassador to Jordan between 1988 and 1991, a period that included the

First Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

. He was then appointed as Ambassador to South Africa, during which time he pressured the government of

F. W. de Klerk Frederik Willem de Klerk (, , 18 March 1936 – 11 November 2021) was a South African politician who served as state president of South Africa from 1989 to 1994 and as deputy president from 1994 to 1996 in the democratic government. As South A ...

to discontinue the country’s chemical and biological weapons programmes. In 1994, when

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

rejoined the

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...

following its transition out of

Apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

, he became High Commissioner from 1994 to 1996. Reeve retired in 1996. The following year he married Susan Doull, whom he had met three years earlier. In retirement, Reeve took a BA in Humanities with Classical Studies, followed by an MA in Classical Studies, from the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

Honours

In the 1986

Queen's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the reigning British monarch's official birthday by granting various individuals appointment into national or dynastic orders or the award of decorations and medals. The honours are present ...

, Reeve was appointed

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III. ...

(CMG). In the 1992

New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

, he was promoted to

Knight Commander Commander ( it, Commendatore; french: Commandeur; german: Komtur; es, Comendador; pt, Comendador), or Knight Commander, is a title of honor prevalent in chivalric orders and fraternal orders. The title of Commander occurred in the medieval mili ...

of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in recognition of his service as Ambassador to South Africa. On 21 March 1995, he was appointed

Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, or ...

(KCVO). This appointment recognised the 1995 visit to South Africa by Queen Elizabeth II which Reeve, as High Commissioner of the country, was involved in organising.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reeve, Anthony 1938 births 2014 deaths Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Jordan Ambassadors and High Commissioners of the United Kingdom to South Africa Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Alumni of Merton College, Oxford