Dame Menna Frances Rawlings (''née'' Hornung; born ) is a British diplomat serving as

British Ambassador to France The British Ambassador to France is the United Kingdom's foremost diplomatic representative in France, and is the head of Britain's diplomatic mission in Paris. The official title is ''His Majesty's Ambassador to France''. Traditionally, the ...

since 2021. Previously British High Commissioner to Australia from 2015 to 2019, she then served as Director General of Economic and Global Issues at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 2019 to 2020.

Career

Menna Hornung read International Relations at

LSE LSE may refer to: Computing * LSE (programming language), a computer programming language * LSE, Latent sector error, a media assessment measure related to the hard disk drive storage technology * Language-Sensitive Editor, a text editor used ...

, graduating with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree, before joining the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1989. In her early career, she served in London, as well as

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper h ...

and

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the ...

. From 2002 to 2004, she served as

private secretary A private secretary (PS) is a civil servant in a governmental department or ministry, responsible to a secretary of state or minister; or a public servant in a royal household, responsible to a member of the royal family. The role exists in ...

to the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, then until 2008 she was posted as deputy high commissioner to Ghana at Accra. After three years in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

as HM Consul General, in 2011 she was posted back to the FCO in London as director for

human resources Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include ...

, remaining there until 2014. From 2015 to 2018 she served as British High Commissioner to Australia, before again returning to London in 2019, being promoted to Director General of Economic and Global Issues at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. She served in the role until 2020. In April 2021, the Government nominated Rawlings for the role of

, to take office in summer 2021. News of her appointment coincided with reporting that for the first time, every British ambassador or high commissioner to a G7 country would be a woman. She entered the role on 23 August 2021. Already Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG), she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (DCMG) in the

2022 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations ...

for services to British foreign policy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rawlings, Menna 1967 births Living people People from the London Borough of Hillingdon Alumni of the London School of Economics British women ambassadors High Commissioners of the United Kingdom to Australia Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to France Dames Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George

Career

See also

References