Ronald William Bailey (1917-2010) was a British diplomat who specialised in Middle East affairs. His career culminated in his appointment as British Ambassador to Morocco.

Biography

Reading Spanish and French at

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is the fifth-oldest surviving college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by ...

, he became friendly with an Egyptian minister's son who invited him to

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

, where they rode out with the Camel Corps and met a former prime minister at

King Tutankhamun Tutankhamun (, egy, twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn), Egyptological pronunciation Tutankhamen () (), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ruled ...

's tomb. Bailey's first posting was

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

, where he was a Probationer Vice-Consul, also taking Arabic classes at the

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

. After the fall of France in 1940 he arrived in Alexandria as vice-consul to receive a telegram announcing the arrival next day of 2,000 refugees from Greece. Two thousand mattresses were found; local ladies made corned beef soup; and ambulances were summoned after one of the ships was bombed. Among the refugees were the novelist Lawrence Durrell, King George II of the Hellenes (who shared Bailey's office) and a Greek priest with the name Jesus Christ on his passport – the man said God had called him to Jerusalem, but he was not entitled to a visa. When the Italians accused British troops of damaging archaeological sites in Cyrenaica, Bailey was sent with Professor Alan Rowe of Alexandria University to investigate, though the Germans were close by. They found one statue whose nose had been shot off by a drunken Polish soldier.

Post-war

After marrying Joan Gray in 1945, Bailey remained in Egypt. Another spell in Beirut was followed by a posting to

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, replacing the Soviet spy Donald Maclean. As Head of Mission in

Taiz Taiz ( ar, تَعِزّ, Taʿizz) is a city in southwestern Yemen. It is located in the Yemeni Highlands, near the port city of Mocha, Yemen, Mocha on the Red Sea, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is the capital of Taiz Governorate. W ...

in Yemen in the early 1960s he survived a knife attack by a night-time intruder. He served as the British Ambassador in

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

between 1967 and 1971. Bailey arrived in

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

for his last posting just after an attack had been made on the royal aeroplane, during which the king, Hassan II, had been forced to take the controls. But Bailey found it a tranquil appointment, not least because he could speak to the sovereign in Arabic, Spanish and French. After retiring in 1975 he founded the British Moroccan Society, and became president of the Society for the Protection of Animals in North Africa. He also was elected a Tory councillor in

Haslemere The town of Haslemere () and the villages of Shottermill and Grayswood are in south west Surrey, England, around south west of London. Together with the settlements of Hindhead and Beacon Hill, they comprise the civil parish of Haslemere i ...

and edited a 12-volume ''Records of Oman 1867-1960''. He was appointed CMG in 1961.

Honours

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III. ...

(CMG) - 1961

References

External links

Interview with Ronald William Bailey

transcript
British Diplomatic Oral History Programme, Churchill College, Cambridge, 1996 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Ronald 1917 births Members of HM Diplomatic Service Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Morocco 2010 deaths Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Bolivia Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge British expatriates in Egypt British expatriates in Lebanon British expatriates in the United States British expatriates in Yemen 20th-century British diplomats