Sir Philip George Doyne Adams KCMG (17 December 1915 – 14 October 2001) was a British career

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

. He was born in Wellington, New Zealand and was educated at Lancing College,

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, before going on to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

. He joined the Levant Consular Service in 1938 and was posted as a probationary Vice-Consul to Beirut. During the Second World War he was an Intelligence Officer in the Australian Army. He took part in the invasion of 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 ...

in 1941; however he was quickly recalled by 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 ...

and spent the remaining years of the war in Cairo. In 1954 he was made

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 ...

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

in Khartoum and established the first

British Embassy This is a list of diplomatic missions of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, excluding honorary consulates. The UK has one of the largest global networks of diplomatic missions. UK diplomatic missions to capitals of other Com ...

after Sudanese independence. Postings followed to Beirut and Vienna before he was appointed Consul-General in Chicago. It was during this period that he met and married Mary Elizabeth (Libby) Lawrence. Adams’ first ambassadorial posting was in 1966 when he was made

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 Jordan. It was during his tenure that

The Six Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) from 5 to 10 Ju ...

between Israel and the Arab states broke out. He returned to London in 1970 and held positions as Assistant Under-Secretary,

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 ...

and Deputy Secretary,

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 ...

1971-72. He was appointed

to Egypt in 1973 and acted as negotiator between the United States Administration and President Sadat during the Yom Kippur War. He retired from the Diplomatic Service in 1975 and later took over as Director of the Ditchley Foundation. He died in London on 14 October 2001.

External links

The Independent
* https://archive.today/20060926002149/http://www.ditchley.co.uk/page/61/former-directors.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Philip 1915 births 2001 deaths People educated at Lancing College Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Egypt Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Jordan Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian Army officers