Richard Wood is a British diplomat, who served as the

British Ambassador to Norway The Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Norway is the United Kingdom's foremost Diplomat, diplomatic representative in Norway, and head of the UK's diplomatic mission in Norway. The official title is ''His Britannic Majesty's Ambassador to the ...

from 2018 to 2023.

Early life

Richard John Wood was born on 27 August 1967 in

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Wood is the son of John Michael Wood and Christine Barbara Wood. Wood was educated at

Lynn Grove High School Lynn Grove Academy (formerly Lynn Grove High School) is a secondary school with academy status, located between the Gorleston-on-Sea and Bradwell areas of Great Yarmouth in the English county of Norfolk. The school educates about 1,400 childre ...

and East Norfolk Sixth Form College. Wood attended Leeds Polytechnic, graduating with a BA (Hons) in European languages and institutions in 1990.

Career

Wood 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 ...

(FCO) in 1990. His first role was as Desk Officer for the Single Market, European Presidency, and Gibraltar. His first foreign posting was as the Second Secretary for internal politics in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

and

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

. During his first posting Wood was outed as

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

to the FCO Security Department by colleagues, and was sent back to Britain and told to expect dismissal. He was allowed to keep his job, but said that he faced "years of resentment and fear". After returning to the UK in 1998, he was press officer for Africa in the FCO news department two years, head of a European Union team for two years, then was posted to the UK mission in New York as first secretary (human rights/social development) from 2002 to 2007. He was back in

as British Consul General from 2007 to 2011, then briefly served in

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...

, Iraq before he returned to the FCO in 2012. An appointment to Washington DC as Counsellor (foreign and security policy) was ended in 2015, when he became head of the FCO Northern and Central Europe Department. He was appointed Ambassador to Norway in August 2018.

Ambassador to Norway

Wood was appointed the British Ambassador to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

on 23 August 2018.

Personal life

Wood married his husband Xavier Piot in 2008. They have a dog called Hudson. Wood speaks fluent

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Richard 1967 births Living people British diplomats Members of HM Diplomatic Service Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Norway 20th-century British diplomats 21st-century British diplomats