The Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Lebanon is the United Kingdom's foremost diplomatic representative in the

Lebanese Republic Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...

, and head of the UK's diplomatic mission in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

. The first two British envoys were appointed during

World War II 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 ...

to both Lebanon and

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. Since 1923 both countries had been under

French mandate The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon (french: Mandat pour la Syrie et le Liban; ar, الانتداب الفرنسي على سوريا ولبنان, al-intidāb al-fransi 'ala suriya wa-lubnān) (1923−1946) was a League of Nations mandate foun ...

from the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

. During the war, however, France was partly occupied by Germany and French troops in Lebanon and Syria were loyal to the

Vichy French Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its terr ...

government, so the Allies invaded and occupied Lebanon and Syria in 1941. Both countries became independent after the war.

List of heads of mission

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Syrian and Lebanese Republics

*1942–1944: Major General Sir Edward Spears *1944–1947: Sir Terence Shone

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at Beirut

*1947–1951: Sir William Houstoun-Boswall *1951–1952: Edwin Chapman-Andrews

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at Beirut

*1952–1956: Sir Edwin Chapman-Andrews *1956–1958: Sir George Middleton *1958–1963: Sir Moore Crosthwaite *1963–1967: Sir Derek Riches *1967–1970: Cecil King *1970–1971: Alan Edden *1971–1975: Paul Wright *1975–1978: Peter Wakefield *1978–1981: Benjamin Strachan *1981–1983: Sir David Roberts *1983–1985: Sir David Miers *1985–1988: Sir John Gray *1988–1990: Sir Allan Ramsay *1990–1992:

David Tatham David Tatham (born 28 June 1939) is an English former ambassador and Governor of the Falkland Islands, and editor of ''The Dictionary of Falklands Biography''. Career David Everard Tatham was educated at St Lawrence College, Ramsgate, and Wadh ...

*1992–1996:

Maeve Fort Dame Maeve Geraldine Fort (19 November 1940 – 18 September 2008) was a British diplomat. During her posting as the United Kingdom's High Commissioner in South Africa from 1996 to 2000, she was the highest ranking female diplomat in Her Majest ...

*1996–2000: David MacLennan *2000–2003:

Richard Kinchen Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'strong ...

*2003–2006:

James Watt James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fun ...

*2006–2011:

Frances Guy Frances Mary Guy (born 1 February 1959) is a British former ambassador and UN Women's representative, now chief executive of Scotland's International Development Alliance. Early life Guy was born on 1 February 1959 to David Guy and Elizabeth Guy ...

*2011–2015: Thomas Fletcher *2015–2018: Hugo Shorter *2018–2020: Chris Rampling *2021–:

Ian Collard Ian Collard (born 31 August 1947) is an English former professional footballer. During his career he made 69 appearances for West Bromwich Albion, winning the FA Cup in 1968, before moving to Ipswich Town in 1969 where he made 92 league appearan ...

References

External links

UK and Lebanon
gov.uk {{Lists of heads of UK diplomatic missions

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

United Kingdom Ambassadors