Victoria Marguerite Treadell, (; born 4 November 1959) is the high commissioner of the United Kingdom to Australia and has been in the posting since April 2019. She is the former High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to Malaysia, High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to New Zealand and Samoa, and Governor of the Pitcairn Islands.

Early life and education

She was born on 4 November 1959 in

Ipoh , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Ipoh in Perak , pushpin_map = #Malaysia#Asia#Earth , pushpin_mapsize = 275px , pushpin_map_caption = Ipoh in Malaysia , coordinates ...

Perak Perak () is a state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kelantan and Pahang to the east, and Selangor to the south. Thailand's ...

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

(now Malaysia) to a

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...

mother and a father of

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

- Dutch ancestry.

Diplomatic career

Treadell 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 1978. Before her posting to New Zealand, she had held postings in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. From 2010 to 2014, she served as

High Commissioner to New Zealand The High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to New Zealand is the United Kingdom's foremost Diplomat, diplomatic representative in New Zealand, and head of the UK's diplomatic mission in New Zealand. As the United Kingdom and New Zealand are f ...

and

Governor of Pitcairn The Governor of PitcairnWhile the territory is commonly called 'Pitcairn Islands', the official title of the office of her governor is 'Governor of Pitcairn' under section 27(1) of the Pitcairn Constitution Order, 2010''. is the representative ...

. She is the first woman who served as British High Commissioner to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. From October 2014 to 2019, she served as High Commissioner to Malaysia. On 12 February 2019, Treadell was announced as the next

British High Commissioner to Australia The High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to Australia is an officer of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the United Kingdom's foremost Diplomat, diplomatic representative to the Commonwealth of Australia. Despite Britain's close relati ...

, in succession to

Menna Rawlings Dame Menna Frances Rawlings (''née'' Hornung; born ) is a British diplomat serving as British Ambassador to France since 2021. Previously British High Commissioner to Australia from 2015 to 2019, she then served as Director General of Economi ...

, taking up the post in March 2019. In early February 2020, Treadell took the "unprecedented" step of giving two elected officials from the

Parliament of Australia The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislature, legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the ...

a "dressing down". The letter, showed "stern" disapproval for how Australia had revealed its security concerns over the UK's invitation to Huawei into its 5G network, which had been expressed both to her, and her Foreign Secretary

Dominic Raab Dominic Rennie Raab (; born 25 February 1974) is a British politician who has served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Secretary of State for Justice, and Lord Chancellor since October 2022, having previously served from 2021 to ...

, in a private briefing. In 2021, she was branded as a "sanctimonious bore" by senior members of the Australian government over "publicly lecturing" Australia on its allegedly inadequate efforts to combat climate change.

Personal life

In 1985, the then Victoria Jansz married Alan Treadell. In addition, due to her interest in culture and arts, she has been one of the patrons of the Singapore-based

British Theatre Playhouse The British Theatre Playhouse (BTP) is a professional theatrical and musical production company incorporated in Singapore in 2004. With the motto ''Bringing to the World the Best in British Entertainment'', the BTP is internationally focused with ...

since 2014, with regard to the plays that are produced in Malaysia.

Honours

She was appointed a

Member of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, or ...

(MVO) in 1989 following a visit by

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

to Malaysia. In the

2010 Queen's Birthday Honours The 2010 Birthday Honours for the Commonwealth realms were announced to celebrate the Queen's Birthday on 7 June 2010 in New Zealand, on 12 June 2010 in the United Kingdom, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Sain ...

, she was made a

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). corrected in

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Treadell, Victoria Marguerite 1959 births Living people People from Ipoh British people of Chinese descent British people of Dutch descent British people of French descent Governors of Pitcairn High Commissioners of the United Kingdom to Australia High Commissioners of the United Kingdom to New Zealand High Commissioners of the United Kingdom to Samoa High Commissioners of the United Kingdom to Malaysia British women ambassadors 20th-century British diplomats 21st-century British diplomats