Nicholas Dunster Hopton (born 8 October 1965) is a British diplomat who was the head of the UK embassy in Libya. Hopton was educated at

St Peter's School, York St Peter's School is a co-educational independent boarding and day school (also referred to as a public school), in the English City of York, with extensive grounds on the banks of the River Ouse. Founded by St Paulinus of York in AD 627, ...

and

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

. He 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 ...

in 1989 and served in Paris, Rome and Rabat. He worked on the national security team at the

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for supporting the prime minister and Cabinet. It is composed of various units that support Cabinet committees and which co-ordinate the delivery of government objecti ...

and was Private Secretary to the Minister of State for Europe. He assumed his first ambassadorial position as Ambassador to Yemen from 2012 to 2013, before serving as Ambassador to Qatar between 2013 and 2015. In December 2015 he was appointed British

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 ...

in Iran. Following the improvement in relations between the United Kingdom and Iran, Hopton was made Ambassador to Iran in September 2016 – the first British ambassador to the country since 2011. He was appointed chargé d'affaires at the British embassy in Libya in September 2019. He was succeeded by Caroline Hurndall in September 2021. From 2013 to 2014 Hopton was a visiting academic at

St Antony's College, Oxford St Antony's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1950 as the result of the gift of French merchant Sir Antonin Besse of Aden, St Antony's specialises in international relations, economic ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopton, Nicholas 1965 births Living people People educated at St Peter's School, York Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Libya Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Iran Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Qatar Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Yemen