The British High Commissioner to South Africa is the head of the United Kingdom's

diplomatic mission A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually den ...

in the Republic of South Africa. As fellow members of the

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the ...

, the United Kingdom and South Africa exchange high commissioners rather than ambassadors, and the high commissioner's office in

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

is the high commission rather than the embassy. However, from 1961 to 1994 South Africa was not a member of the Commonwealth, so for that time the British head of mission was an ambassador and his office was the embassy. Besides the high commission in Pretoria, the UK maintains a

consulate-general A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

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 ...

. The High Commissioner to South Africa is also accredited to the Kingdom of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), but a resident High Commissioner to Eswatini has been appointed and is expected in post in summer 2019. From 2005 to 2019 the High Commissioner to South Africa was also accredited to the Kingdom of Lesotho. The Republic of South Africa is the historical successor to the

Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa ( nl, Unie van Zuid-Afrika; af, Unie van Suid-Afrika; ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the Cape, Natal, Tran ...

, which came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unification of four previously separate

British colonies A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Coun ...

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with t ...

Natal Colony The Colony of Natal was a British colony in south-eastern Africa. It was proclaimed a British colony on 4 May 1843 after the British government had annexed the Boer Republic of Natalia, and on 31 May 1910 combined with three other colonies to ...

Transvaal Colony The Transvaal Colony () was the name used to refer to the Transvaal region during the period of direct British rule and military occupation between the end of the Second Boer War in 1902 when the South African Republic was dissolved, and the ...

and

Orange River Colony The Orange River Colony was the British colony created after Britain first occupied (1900) and then annexed (1902) the independent Orange Free State in the Second Boer War. The colony ceased to exist in 1910, when it was absorbed into the Unio ...

. It included the territories formerly part of the Boer republics annexed in 1902,

South African Republic The South African Republic ( nl, Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, abbreviated ZAR; af, Suid-Afrikaanse Republiek), also known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer Republic in Southern Africa which existed from 1852 to 1902, when it ...

and

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...

. The Union of South Africa was a

dominion The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire. "Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State at the 192 ...

of the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

which became sovereign (along with other dominions) in 1931. The Union became the Republic of South Africa in 1961; the country left the

at that time but rejoined in 1994.

High Commissioners to the Union of South Africa

From 1910 to 1931 the Governor-General also held the office of High Commissioner: see

Governor-General of the Union of South Africa The governor-general of the Union of South Africa ( af, Goewerneur-generaal van Unie van Suid-Afrika, nl, Goeverneur-generaal van de Unie van Zuid-Afrika) was the highest state official in the Union of South Africa between 31 May 1910 and 31 ...

. *1931–1935: Sir Herbert Stanley *1935–1939: Sir William Clark *1940–1941: Sir Edward Harding *1941–1944:

William Ormsby-Gore, 4th Baron Harlech William George Arthur Ormsby-Gore, 4th Baron Harlech, (11 April 1885 – 14 February 1964), was a British Conservative politician and banker. Background Harlech, the son of George Ormsby-Gore, 3rd Baron Harlech, and Lady Margaret Gordon, daug ...

*1944–1951: Evelyn Baring *1951–1956: John Le Rougetel *1955–1959:

Percivale Liesching Sir Percivale Liesching (1 April 1895 – 4 November 1973) was a British civil servant who held two posts as Permanent Under-Secretary and was High Commissioner in South Africa. Biography Born in London, Liesching was educated at Bedford Schoo ...

*1959–1961: Sir John Maud

Ambassadors to the Republic of South Africa

*1961–1963: Sir John Maud (later Lord Redcliffe-Maud) *1963–1966: Sir Hugh Stephenson *1966–1969: Sir John Nicholls *1970–1973: Sir Arthur Snelling *1973–1976: Sir James Bottomley *1976–1979: Sir David Scott *1979–1982: Sir John Leahy *1982–1984: Sir Ewen Fergusson *1984–1987: Sir Patrick Moberly *1987–1991: Sir Robin Renwick *1991–1994: Sir Anthony Reeve

High Commissioners to the Republic of South Africa

*1994–1996: Sir Anthony Reeve *1996–2000: Dame Maeve Fort *2000–2005: Dame Ann Grant *2005–2009:

Paul Boateng Paul Yaw Boateng, Baron Boateng (born 14 June 1951) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brent South from 1987 to 2005, becoming the UK's first Black Cabinet Minister in May 2002, when he was appoi ...

*2009–2013: Dame Nicola Brewer *2013–2017: Dame Judith Macgregor *2017–2021: Nigel Casey *2021–:

Antony Phillipson Antony John Phillipson (born 13 January 1971) is a British diplomat, and as of 2021, British High Commissioner to South Africa. He was High Commissioner to Singapore from 2011 to April 2015, and from 2017 to June 2021 was the British Consul-Ge ...

References

External links

UK and South Africa
''gov.uk'' {{Lists of heads of UK diplomatic missions

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

South Africa and the Commonwealth of Nations

High Commissioners to the Union of South Africa

Ambassadors to the Republic of South Africa

High Commissioners to the Republic of South Africa

See also

References

External links