The British Overseas Territories (BOTs) are the 14 territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom that,while not forming part of the United Kingdom itself,are part of its sovereign territory. The permanently inhabited territories are delegated varying degrees of internal self-governance,with the United Kingdom retaining responsibility for defence,foreign relations,and internal security,and ultimate responsibility for "good" governance. Three of the territories are chiefly or only inhabited by military or scientific personnel,the rest hosting significant civilian populations. All fourteen have the British monarch as head of state. These UK government responsibilities are assigned to various departments of the Foreign,Commonwealth and Development Office and are subject to change.
The Commissioner for the British Antarctic Territory,is the head of government of the British Antarctic Territory,a British Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom. The commissioner is appointed by the monarch of the United Kingdom on the advice of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
The British Indian Ocean Territory is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom. It is administered by a Commissioner,located at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London. There is no Governor appointed to represent the King in the territory as there are no permanent inhabitants.
The Commissioner for the British Indian Ocean Territory is the head of government in the United Kingdom's overseas territory of the British Indian Ocean Territory. The Commissioner is appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The Commissioner does not reside in the territory,as it has had no native population since the forced depopulation of the Chagossian people in the 1970s,and the only population is the military of the United States and the United Kingdom at the joint base at Diego Garcia.
Humphrey Trevelyan,Baron Trevelyan,was a British colonial administrator,diplomat and writer. Having begun his career in the Indian Civil Service and Indian Political Service,he transferred to HM Diplomatic Service upon Indian independence in 1947,and had a distinguished career during which he held several important ambassadorships.
In the Commonwealth of Nations,a high commissioner is the senior diplomat,generally ranking as an ambassador,in charge of the diplomatic mission of one Commonwealth government to another. Instead of an embassy,the diplomatic mission is generally called a high commission.
Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe,CCS was a Sri Lankan diplomat and civil servant. He was High Commissioner to India and concurrently Ambassador to both Nepal and Afghanistan (1963–1967) and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury and the Ministry of Health. Amerasinghe served as Ceylon's Permanent Representative to the United Nations 1967 to 1980 and served as President of the United Nations General Assembly in 1976. He was also one of the leaders of the negotiations to draft the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Robert Leigh Turner is a writer and British former diplomat. His final role was British Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Vienna from August 2016 to September 2021.
Sir Nicholas Lionel John Montagu KCB is a retired British Civil Servant. He was Chairman of the Inland Revenue from 1997 to 2004,before its merger with Her Majesty's Customs and Excise to create Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs in 2005.
Edward David Gerard Llewellyn,Baron Llewellyn of Steep,is a British diplomat and former political adviser serving as the British Ambassador to Italy since 2022. He previously served as the British Ambassador to France from 2016 to 2021 and as the Downing Street Chief of Staff under then prime minister David Cameron from 2010 to 2016.
Sir Alexander Wykeham Ellis is a British civil servant,currently Ambassador designate to Spain,scheduled to take up his post in Summer 2024. He has previously been High Commissioner to India,Ambassador to Brazil and before that Portugal,and Deputy National Security Adviser for the Integrated Review on diplomacy,development and defence. Ellis was previously the Director General of the Department for Exiting the EU. He had previously been Britain's ambassador to Brazil from July 2013 to January 2017.
Asif Ahmad is a banker-turned-diplomat,having served as a Senior Civil Servant at the Foreign,Commonwealth and Development Office. From 2017 to August 2021 he was the British High Commissioner to Jamaica. He was the British Ambassador to Thailand from November 2010 until August 2012. He was the British Ambassador to the Philippines from July 2013 to 2017. He has also been accredited to the Bahamas,Palau and Laos.
Peter Richard Hayes is a British diplomat. He was formerly the Commissioner of the British Indian Ocean Territory and the British Antarctic Territory.
Colin Roberts is a British diplomat and the former Governor of the Falkland Islands and former Commissioner of the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.
Paul Damian Madden is a retired British diplomat,who was High Commissioner to Singapore and to Australia,and Ambassador to Japan between 2017 and 2021.
Antony John Phillipson,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-General in New York and Her Majesty's Trade Commissioner for North America.
Katherine Lucy Smith is a British diplomat who served as British Ambassador to Greece from January 2017 until July 2021.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in the British Indian Ocean Territory since 3 June 2014. An Order in Council to legalise same-sex marriages was enacted by the Privy Council of the United Kingdom on 28 April 2014,and took effect on 3 June. The British Indian Ocean Territory,despite having no permanent population,was among the first British Overseas Territories to legalise same-sex marriage.
Benjamin Robert Merrick is a British civil servant who was Director of Overseas Territories at the Foreign,Commonwealth and Development Office from August 2017 until July 2021.
