A request that this article title be changed to List of high commissioners of the United Kingdom to Barbados is under discussion. Please do not move this article until the discussion is closed. |
British High Commissioner to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean | |
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Inaugural holder | John S. Bennett, CBE, CVO |
Formation | 1966 |
Website | www.gov.uk/government/world/barbados |
The High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean is the United Kingdom's foremost diplomatic representative in Barbados, and head of the UK's diplomatic mission in Bridgetown, Barbados.
As members of Commonwealth of Nations, diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and Barbados are at the governmental level, rather than between their heads of state (King Charles III is head of state of the U.K., but not of Barbados which became a republic on 30 November 2021). Thus, the countries exchange high commissioners, rather than ambassadors.
The High Commission in Barbados also covers several other Commonwealth countries in the Eastern Caribbean:
The High Commission of Canada in Barbados is Canada's main diplomatic mission to Barbados. The exact location is Bishop's Hill Court in Bridgetown, St. Michael. The auspices of the High Commission to Barbados also include issues involving the neighbouring Eastern Caribbean islands of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as three British overseas territories: Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands and Montserrat. It also includes consular and trade services for Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint-Martin and Sint Maarten.
Antigua and Barbuda maintains diplomatic relations with the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the People's Republic of China, as well as with many Latin American countries and neighbouring Eastern Caribbean states. It is a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, the Organization of American States, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas, Petrocaribe and the Eastern Caribbean's Regional Security System (RSS).
The historical ties between the governments of Barbados and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) are long and complex, including settlement, post-colonialism and modern bilateral relations. The two countries are related through common history spanning 339 years (1627–1966). Since the Barbadian date of political independence, these nations continue to share ties through the Commonwealth of Nations. Until becoming a Commonwealth republic in 2021, Barbados also shared the same Head of State, with Queen Elizabeth II as their Monarch.
Duncan John Rushworth Taylor is a British retired diplomat whose most recent post was ambassador to Mexico.
Sir Giles Bullard, was a British diplomat. His appointments included British Ambassador to Bulgaria and High Commissioner to the West Indies at the time of the American invasion of Grenada.
The High Commission of Barbados in London is the diplomatic mission of Barbados in the United Kingdom. Among the initial diplomatic missions to be established by Barbados after the attainment of independence from Britain, the office was initially located at 28 Cockspur Street where it shared a joint mission with Guyana. In the early 1970s the mission relocated to 6 Upper Belgrave Street, London. Barbados' High Commission remained at that location until the mid 1980s when it moved to its present location at the corner of 1 Great Russell Street in London's Bloomsbury neighbourhood.
Paul Brummell is a British diplomat and travel writer.
Janet Elizabeth Douglas CMG is a retired British diplomat who was the British High Commissioner to Barbados and the East Caribbean from 2017 to 2020.
Antigua and Barbuda and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) are related through a long common history spanning from 1632 for Antigua, and 1678 for the smaller sister-isle of Barbuda through until 1981 for the joint-state. Antigua was one of the oldest English settlements in the West Indies, and served as a British hub of regional administration for the surrounding Leeward Islands.