Sir Mark Evelyn Heath (27 May 1927 – 28 September 2005) was a British diplomat who served as British Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

from 1980 to 1982 and the first

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

to the Holy See from 1982 to 1985.

Career

Heath was born at Emsworth,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, the son of Commander John Moore Heath and Hilary Heath (née Salter). He was the great-great-great-grandson of

James Heath James Heath may refer to: * James Heath (historian) (1629–1664), English royalist historian * James Heath (engraver) (1757–1834), English engraver * James P. Heath (1777–1854), U.S. congressman from Maryland * James E. Heath (active since 18 ...

, the eighteenth-century engraver and associate member of the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

. Heath was educated first at

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. Founded in 1843 for the sons of Church ...

and then at

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...

, where he read history. 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 ...

he served on minesweepers with the

RNVR The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Ro ...

. He 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 ...

in 1950. In 1962, he was appointed as British Consul to Bulgaria. While there, his considerable height (he stood 6 ft 8in tall) caused the visiting Soviet premiere,

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

to embrace him and remark that he would have made a fine Communist. Sir Mark was Head of the Commodities Department from 1970 to 1971. He served as Counsellor with the

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...

from 1971 to 1974, and then as the Head of the West African Department at 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 ...

from 1975 to 1978. He also held postings in Indonesia, Denmark, Canada and France. From 1980 to 1985, he served as the United Kingdom's diplomatic representative to the Holy See, first as minister plenipotentiary and then from 1982 as ambassador. Heath's appointment represented the resumption of full diplomatic relations between Britain and the Holy See for the first time since Henry VIII's break with the Catholic Church in 1534. He was involved in the negotiations surrounding the historic 1982 visit of Pope

John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

to Britain, a trip which was almost cancelled because of the conflict between Britain and predominantly Catholic Argentina. After retiring from the Diplomatic Service he was Head of Protocol for the

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

Government (1985–88). He was made a CMG in 1980, then was

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

ed and made a KCVO the same year. A committed Anglican, during his retirement he served as a steward at

Bath Abbey The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, commonly known as Bath Abbey, is a parish church of the Church of England and former Benedictine monastery in Bath, Somerset, England. Founded in the 7th century, it was reorganised in the 10th ...

. In 1954 he married Margaret, daughter of Nobel-laureate

Lawrence Bragg Sir William Lawrence Bragg, (31 March 1890 – 1 July 1971) was an Australian-born British physicist and X-ray crystallography, X-ray crystallographer, discoverer (1912) of Bragg's law, Bragg's law of X-ray diffraction, which is basic for t ...

, by whom he had a daughter and two sons. He died in 2005. Lady Heath died in 2022.Deaths Heath
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heath, Mark 1927 births 2005 deaths Royal Navy officers Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order People educated at Marlborough College Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge People from Emsworth Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Chad Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to the Holy See

Career

See also

References