Sir Peter Westmacott

Sir Peter Westmacott, GCMG, LVO was British Ambassador to the United States from January 2012 until January 2016. He then became resident fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School for a semester and moved back to the UK in May 2016. He previously served as the British Embassy’s Counsellor for Political and Public Affairs in the mid-1990s. Prior to his appointment as Ambassador to the United States, Peter Westmacott served as British Ambassador to France—from 2007 to 2011—and as Ambassador to Turkey starting in 2002. His forty-year career in the British Diplomatic Service also included postings in Tehran and Brussels, time as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Director for the Americas, and a seat on the board of the Foreign Office as Deputy Under Secretary. In addition, Ambassador Westmacott served as Deputy Private Secretary to His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales from 1990 to 1993. Ambassador Westmacott was born in the village of Edington, Somerset in the South West of England in December 1950. He was educated at New College Oxford and joined the Diplomatic Service in 1972. He married Susie Nemazee in 2001; together they have four grown children: Oliver, Laura, Rupert and Safieh.