The Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Iceland is the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

's foremost

diplomatic representative Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. 1 ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

, and head of the UK's

diplomatic mission A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

in Iceland. There official title is ''His Britannic Majesty's Ambassador to the Republic of Iceland''. Both the British

embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

and the ambassador's residence are in

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

. The British embassy shares a site and several common facilities with the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

embassy.

History

The UK's first representative to Iceland was appointed 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 ...

. Until then, Iceland had been a dependency of

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

and then, since 1918, a

sovereign state A sovereign state or sovereign country, is a polity, political entity represented by one central government that has supreme legitimate authority over territory. International law defines sovereign states as having a permanent population, defin ...

in a

personal union A personal union is the combination of two or more states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, would involve the constituent states being to some extent interlink ...

with Denmark, with Denmark handling Icelandic foreign policy. On 9 April 1940

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

invaded Denmark and the British Minister, Charles Smith, who had been appointed only six months previously, and his staff were expelled. Immediately, Iceland declared itself responsible for its own foreign affairs, and declared strict neutrality. To prevent the emergence of a pro-Nazi government in Reykjavík, and help fight the

Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...

, the United Kingdom occupied Iceland on 10 May 1940. With the British troops, Charles Howard Smith arrived as envoy to the Icelandic government. Smith died in his post in 1942, and was replaced by Gerald Shepherd (later Sir Gerald) the following year. In 1944, still at the height of the war, Iceland declared its full independence from Denmark. Although the diplomatic mission in Iceland is not a large one, nor particularly prestigious, its importance during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

was disproportionate, due to its strategic location in the North Atlantic. More crucial to British interests was the string of diplomatic and economic disputes related to fishing rights, which culminated in the

Cod War The Cod Wars ( is, Þorskastríðin; also known as , ; german: Kabeljaukriege) were a series of 20th-century confrontations between the United Kingdom (with aid from West Germany) and Iceland about fishing rights in the North Atlantic. Each o ...

List of heads of mission

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary

*1940–1942: Charles Howard Smith *1943–1947: Sir Gerald Shepherd *1947–1950: Charles Baxter *1950–1953: John Greenway *1953–1956: James Henderson *1956–1957: Andrew Gilchrist

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary

*1957–1959: Andrew Gilchrist *1959–1962: Charles Stewart *1962–1965:

Basil Boothby Basil Boothby CMG (9 September 1910 – 9 February 1990) was a British ambassador. Career Evelyn Basil Boothby (of the family of the Boothby baronets) was educated at Winchester College and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He joined the Diplom ...

*1966–1970: Aubrey Halford-MacLeod *1970–1975: John McKenzie *1975–1981: Kenneth East *1981–1983: William McQuillan *1983–1986: Richard Thomas *1986–1989: Mark Chapman *1989–1991: Sir Richard Best *1991–1993: Patrick Wogan *1993–1996: Michael Hone *1996–2000: James McCulloch *2001–2004:

John Culver John Chester Culver (August 8, 1932 – December 26, 2018) was an American politician, writer and lawyer who was elected to both the United States House of Representatives (1965–1975) and United States Senate (1975–1981) from Iowa. A memb ...

*2004–2008: Alp Mehmet *2008–2012: Ian Whitting *2012–2016:

Stuart Gill Stuart William Gill (born 6 August 1958) is a British diplomat who is High Commissioner to the Republic of Malta. Education Gill graduated from the University of Kent in 1980, with a degree in Politics and Government. Career Gill began his ca ...

*2016–2021: Michael Nevin *August 2021–:

Bryony Mathew ''Bryonia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the gourd family. Bryony is its best-known common name. They are native to western Eurasia and adjacent regions, such as North Africa, the Canary Islands and South Asia. Description and ecology B ...

References

External links

UK and Iceland
''gov.uk'' * {{Lists of heads of UK diplomatic missions