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Traditionally, the Embassy to France was the most prestigious posting in the British foreign service, although in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, diplomatic representation was often lacking due to wars between the two countries.

British Ambassadors and Ministers to France

Before 1603

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

• Sir Charles Somerset 1505
• 1514-1515: Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk
• 1518-1521: Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire
• 1529-?: Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk
• Periods in 1540s and 1550s: Nicholas Wotton
• 1559-1564: Nicholas Throckmorton
• 1566-1570: Henry Norris, 1st Baron Norreys
• 1570-1573: Francis Walsingham
• 1591-1592: Sir Henry Unton^[1]
  • 1592-1596: Thomas Edmondes Chargé d'affaires^[1]
  • 1597-1599:Thomas Edmondes Chargé d'affaires^[1]
• 1599-1600: Sir Henry Neville^[1]
  • 1601 Thomas Edmondes, Special Ambassador^[2][3]

1602-1689

• 1602-1606: Sir Thomas Parry^[3]
  • 1604: Sir James Hay^[3]
  • 1604-1605: The Duke of Lennox and Richmond^[3]
• 1605-1609: Sir George Carew Resident ambassador^[1][3]
  • 1606: Sir William Godolphin^[3]
• 1609-1610: William Beecher Chargé d'Affaires^[3]
• 1610-1617: Thomas Edmondes Resident Ambassador ^[1][2][3]
  • 1610: Edward Wotton, 1st Baron Wotton ^[3]
  • 1616: Sir James Hay^[3]
• 1617-1619: William Beecher Agent (Chargé d'Affaires)^[3]
• 1619-1624: Sir Edward Herbert Resident Ambassador (but not Sept 1621 to June 1622)^[3]
• 1621-1622: James Hay, Viscount Doncaster^[3]
  • 1624-1625: Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland^[3]
  • 1624-1625: James Hay, 1st Earl of Carlisle^[3]
• 1624-1625: Sir George Goring Agent^[3]
  • 1625: George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham^[3]
• 1625-1627: Sir Edward Barrett appointed Resident Ambassador, but did not go^[3]
  • 1625: Thomas Lorkin Agent^[3]
  • 1625-1626: Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland and Sir Dudley Carleton^[3]
• 1626-1627: William Lewis Agent^[3]
  • 1626: Dudley Carleton, Lord Carleton^[3]
  • 1626: Walter Montagu
• 1626-1627: John Hawkins (diplomat)^[3]
• 1627-1628: Walter Montagu^[3]
  • 1629-1630: Thomas Edmonds, Special mission^[1][2]
• 1629-1640: Réné Augier Agent (with de Vic)
• 1630-1636: Henry de Vic Agent or Chargé d'affaires when there was no ambassador^[3]
  • 1630-1631: Walter Montagu Ambassador (3 special missions)^[3]
  • 1631-1632: Sir Isaac Wake^[3]
  • 1631-1633: Jerome Weston Special Mission^[3]
• 1635-1639: John Scudamore, 1st Viscount Scudamore Ambassador Ordinary^[3]
• 1636-1641: Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester Ambassador Extraordinary^[3]
  • 1639-1640: Thomas Windebank^[3]
• 1641-1650: Richard Browne Agent (for Charles I, then representing the exiled Charles II)^[3]
  • 1642-1643: William Kerr, 3rd Earl of Lothian (for Scots Privy Council and Charles I)^[3]
• 1643-1644: George Goring, Lord Goring (for Charles I)^[3]
• 1644-1651: Réné Augier Agent; then Resident Ambassador (for Parliament)^[3]
• 1651-1655: Réné Petit Agent^[3]
• 1655-1656: Réné Augier Agent^[3]
• 1656-1659: Sir William Lockhart Ambassador^[3]
  • 1658: Thomas Belasyse, Viscount Fauconberg^[3]
• 1660: William Crofts, 1st Baron Crofts^[3]
• 1660-1661 and 1662: Henry Jermyn, Earl of St Albans^[3]
  • 1661: Samuel Tuke^[3]
• 1662-1663: Ralph Montagu^[3]
• 1662-1666: Denzil Holles, 1st Baron Holles^[3]
• 1666-1668: Henry Jermyn, Earl of St Albans^[3]
• 1668: Sir John Trevor^[3]
• 1669-1672: Ralph Montagu^[3]
  • 1669 and 1670: Charles Sackville, Baron Buckhurst
  • 1670: George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham
  • 1671: John Belasyse, Baron Belasyse^[3]
  • 1671 and 1672: Sidney Godolphin^[3]
• 1672-1677: William Perwich Agent (and Chargé d'affaires when no ambassador)^[3]
• 1672: Henry Savile, Ambassador^[3]
• 1672: Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory^[3]
• 1672-1673: Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland^[3]
• 1673: Sir Edward Spragge^[3]
• 1673-1675: Sir William Lockhart^[3]
  • 1674: Bevil Skelton Secret Mission^[3]
• 1675-1676: John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton^[3]
• 1676-1678: Ralph Montagu^[3]
• 1676-1679: John Brisbane Agent; and then Chargé d'affaires^[3]
  • 1677: Louis Duras, 2nd Earl of Feversham^[3]
• 1678-1679: Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland^[3]
• 1679-1682: Henry Savile, Envoy Extraordinary^[3]
• 1682-1685: Richard Graham, 1st Viscount Preston, Envoy Extraordinary^[3]
  • 1683: George Douglas, 1st Earl of Dumbarton^[3]
  • 1683-1684: James Hamilton, Earl of Arran^[3]
• 1685: John Churchill, Baron Churchill^[3]
• 1685-1686: Sir William Trumbull^[3]
• 1686-1688: Bevil Skelton Envoy Extraordinary^[3]
• 1688-1689: Henry Waldegrave, 1st Baron Waldegrave Envoy Extraordinary^[3]

Ambassadors Extraordinary from 1689

• No representation 1689-1697 due to the Nine Years' War
• 1697-1698: The Earl of Portland^[4]
• 1698-1699: The Earl of Jersey^[4]
• 1699-1701: The Earl of Manchester^[4]
• No representation 1701-1712 due to the War of the Spanish Succession^[4]
  • 1709: Charles Townshend, Viscount Townshend Plenipotentiary^[4]
• 1712: The Duke of Hamilton (Never took office, being killed in a duel before setting off.)
  • 1712-1715: Matthew Prior, Plenipotentiary^[4]
• 1712-1713: The Duke of Shrewsbury^[4]
• 1714-1720: The Earl of Stair, Minister-Plenipotentiary 1714-1715; Envoy Extraordinary 1715; then Ambassador^[4]
• 1720-1721: Sir Robert Sutton, Ambassador^[4]
• 1721-1724: Sir Luke Schaub^[4]
• 1724-1730: The Lord Walpole of Wolterton Envoy Extraordinary 1724; Ambassador Extraordinary 1724-1727; Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary 1727-1730^[4]

Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary

• 1730-1740: The Earl Waldegrave^[4]
• 1740-1744: Anthony Thompson, Chargé d'Affaires^[4]
• no representation 1744-1748 due to the War of the Austrian Succession
• 1749-1754: The Earl of Albemarle^[4]
• no representation 1754-1762 due to the Seven Years' War
  • 1761: Hans Stanley, Minister: special mission to negotatiate peace^[4]
• 1762-1763: The Duke of Bedford^[4]
• 1763-1765: The Earl of Hertford^[4]
• 1765-1766: The Duke of Richmond^[4]
• 1766-1768: The Earl of Rochford^[4]
• 1768-1772: The Earl Harcourt^[4]
• 1772-1778: The Viscount Stormont^[4]
• no representation 1778-1782 due to American Revolutionary War
• 1782: Thomas Grenville, Minister^[4]
• 1782-1783: Alleyne Fitzherbert, Minister Plenipotentiary^[4]
• 1783-1784: The Duke of Manchester^[4]
• 1784-1789: The Duke of Dorset^[4][5]
• 1790-1792: Earl Gower^[5]
• no representation 1792-1801 due to French Revolutionary Wars
  • 1797: James Harris, Baron Malmesbury, Plenipotentiary^[5]
• 1801-1802: The Marquess Cornwallis, Plenipotentiary
• 1802-1803: The Lord Whitworth^[5]
• no representation 1803-1814 due to Napoleonic Wars
  • 1806: Francis Seymour-Conway, Earl of Yarmouth and James Maitland, Earl of Lauderdale, Plenipotentiaries ^[5]
• 1814-1815: The Duke of Wellington^[5]
• 1815-1824: Sir Charles Stuart^[5]
• 1824-1828: The Viscount Granville ^[5]
• 1828-1830: The Lord Stuart de Rothesay ^[5]
• 1830-1835: The Viscount Granville^[5]
• 1835: The Lord Cowley^[5]
• 1835-1841: The Earl Granville^[5]
• 1841-1846: The Lord Cowley^[5]
• 1846-1852: The Marquess of Normanby^[5]
• 1852-1867: The Earl Cowley^[5]
• 1867-1887: The Viscount Lyons
• 1887-1891: The Earl of Lytton
• 1891-1896: The Marquess of Dufferin and Ava
• 1896-1905: Sir Edmund Monson
• 1905-1918: Sir Francis Bertie
• 1918-1920: The Earl of Derby
• 1920-1922: The Lord Hardinge of Penshurst
• 1922-1928: The Marquess of Crewe
• 1928-1934: Sir William Tyrrell
• 1934-1937: Sir George Clerk
• 1937-1939: Sir Eric Phipps
• 1939-1940: Sir Ronald Campbell
• no representation 1940-1944 due to German occupation of France during World War II
• 1944-1948: Sir Alfred Duff Cooper, (previously Representative to the Free French in Algiers from 1943)
• 1948-1954: Sir Oliver Harvey
• 1954-1960: Sir Gladwyn Jebb
• 1960: Sir Frederic Salusbury (Died in office)
• 1960-1965: Sir Pierson Dixon
• 1965-1968: Sir Patrick Reilly
• 1968-1972: Sir Christopher Soames
• 1972-1975: Sir Edward Tomkins
• 1975-1979: Sir Nicholas Henderson
• 1979-1982: Sir Reginald Hibbert
• 1982-1987: Sir John Fretwell
• 1987-1993: Sir Ewen Fergusson
• 1993-1996: Sir Christopher Mallaby
• 1996-2001: Sir Michael Jay
• 2001-2007: Sir John Holmes
• 2007 on: Sir Peter Westmacott

References

• List of Ambassadors to France since 1814

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