Joanna Kate Kuenssberg (born 1973) is a British diplomat who was the United Kingdom's High Commissioner to

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

from 2014 to 2018.

Life and career

Kuenssberg was born in

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

, a daughter of Nick Kuenssberg, a Scottish businessman who was working in Lima at the time, and his wife Sally Robertson. Her younger sister is

Laura Kuenssberg Laura Juliet Kuenssberg (born 8 August 1976) is a British journalist who currently presents the BBC's flagship Sunday morning politics show. She succeeded Nick Robinson as political editor of BBC News in July 2015, and was the first woman to ...

, and they have a brother David who is executive director of finance and resources at

Brighton and Hove City Council Brighton and Hove City Council is the local authority of the city of Brighton and Hove. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government services ...

. She was educated at

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

, where she gained a BA degree in Modern Languages in 1995. She joined the

Department of the Environment An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...

in 1995 and worked at the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

as Project Manager (

EU enlargement The European Union (EU) has expanded a number of times throughout its history by way of the accession of new member states to the Union. To join the EU, a state needs to fulfil economic and political conditions called the Copenhagen criteria ...

) 1996–97, after which she joined the

Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ministries of fore ...

(FCO). She was

seconded In deliberative bodies a second to a proposed motion is an indication that there is at least one person besides the mover that is interested in seeing the motion come before the meeting. It does not necessarily indicate that the seconder favors th ...

to the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs 1999–2000 and to the Quai d’Orsay EU Directorate 2000–01, followed by a post at the British embassy in Paris 2001–04. She was deputy

head of mission In diplomatic usage, head of mission (HOM) or chief of mission (COM) from the French "chef de mission diplomatique" (CMD) is the head of a diplomatic representation, such as an ambassador, high commissioner, nuncio, chargé d'affaires, permane ...

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, Portugal, 2010–14 and

chargé d'affaires A ''chargé d'affaires'' (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador ...

there from January to May 2011. From April 2014 she was High Commissioner to Mozambique, based in

Maputo Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the Capital city, capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a popul ...

. She was replaced in July 2018. A month after leaving the Foreign Office she started working for the oil company Shell as vice president of government relations with Russia. After three years she was promoted to vice president of corporate relations with Middle Eastern, North African, and Central Eurasian states.

Personal life

Kuenssberg married in 1997 and has three sons.

Ancestry

The family of von Künßberg (which can also be spelt Kuenssberg) is an old German family, with roots back to the mid-12th century (mentioned as early as 1149 in several sources). She is the granddaughter of

Ekkehard von Kuenssberg Ekkehard von Kuenssberg CBE (17 December 1913 – 27 December 2000), , was a German-born physician who made his career in Scotland. He was chairman and later president of the Royal College of General Practitioners and was appointed as its Wol ...

(1913-2000), a German-born physician who emigrated to Scotland, and her great-grandfather was Professor Dr. Eberhard Georg Otto Freiherr von Künßberg (1881–1941), of the

Thurnau Thurnau is a municipality in the district Kulmbach, Germany. It is known for golfing as well as its potteries. Thurnau is known for transmitter Thurnau, the medium wave transmission site for Deutschlandfunk, a German national information ra ...

line of the family: a separate and distinct line from that of Eberhard Freiherr von Kuensberg, the leader of the

Sonderkommando ''Sonderkommandos'' (, ''special unit'') were work units made up of German Nazi death camp prisoners. They were composed of prisoners, usually Jews, who were forced, on threat of their own deaths, to aid with the disposal of gas chamber vict ...

assigned to transport

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n artifacts for the German Foreign Office during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Eberhard von Künßberg married the

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

-raised Dr. Katharina Samson, the daughter of wealthy cloth manufacturer Gustav Samson, and Anna Goldschmidt, the fourth daughter of Hermann and Rosalie Goldschmidt. Professor Dr. Eberhard von Künßberg was a scholar in the history of

German law The law of Germany (german: das Recht Deutschlands), that being the modern German legal system (german: Deutsches Rechtssystem), is a system of civil law which is founded on the principles laid out by the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of G ...

, a professor at the

University of Heidelberg } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

, a legal linguist and a pioneer in the field of legal geography. From the death of Richard Schroeder in 1917 until von Künßberg's own death in 1941, he edited the '' Deutsches Rechtswörterbuch.'' Her maternal line includes her great uncle

James Wilson Robertson Sir James Wilson Robertson, (27 October 189923 September 1983) was a British civil servant who served as the last colonial governor-general of Nigeria from 1955 to 1960. Early life and education He was educated at Merchiston Castle School ...

, the last British Governor-General of Nigeria; and Lord Robertson, her maternal grandfather.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuenssberg, Joanna 1973 births Living people Alumni of New College, Oxford High Commissioners of the United Kingdom to Mozambique British women ambassadors