This is a list of diplomatic missions of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, excluding honorary consulates. The UK has one of the largest global networks of diplomatic missions. UK diplomatic missions to capitals of other Commonwealth of Nations member countries are known as High Commissions (headed by 'High Commissioners'). For three Commonwealth countries (namely India, Nigeria, and Pakistan), the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) still uses the term "Deputy High Commission" for Consulates-General (headed by Deputy High Commissioners), although this terminology is being phased out.[1] British citizens may get help from the embassy of any other Commonwealth country present, when in a country where there is no British embassy, including New Zealand and Australia, to help British nationals in some countries.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office employs approximately 13,200 staff in the UK and in more than 260 Posts overseas. Approximately one-third of these employees are UK-based civil servants (including members of HM Diplomatic Service) and two-thirds are employed locally by Posts overseas.[2]
Contemporary history
In 2004, the FCDO carried out a review of the deployment of its diplomatic missions, and subsequently over a two-year period closed its missions in Nassau (in the Bahamas), Asunción (Paraguay), Dili (East Timor), Maseru (Lesotho), Mbabane (Swaziland), Antananarivo (Madagascar), Nuku'alofa (Tonga), Tarawa (Kiribati), and Port Vila (Vanuatu). Additionally several consulates and trade offices were also closed, including those in Fukuoka (Japan), Vientiane (Laos), Douala (Cameroon), Porto (Portugal), along with Frankfurt, Leipzig, and Stuttgart in Germany, and Phoenix, San Juan, and Dallas in the United States. Other consulates in Australia, Germany, France, Spain, New Zealand, and the US were downgraded and staffed by local personnel only.[3] In 2012, Foreign SecretaryWilliam Hague announced the opening of embassies in Liberia and Haiti, the re-opening of embassies in Laos, El Salvador, and Paraguay, and the opening of a Consulate-General in Recife (Brazil). He also said that by 2015, the UK would have opened up to eleven new embassies and eight new Consulates or Trade Offices.[4] In 2013, a UK government office was established in Seattle.[5] In 2014, all services at the former UK Consulate in Orlando were transferred to the nearby UK Consulate-General in Miami.[6] In 2015, the UK Consulate-General in Denver was reclassified as a UK Government Office.[7] In 2018 the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has announced that new High Commissions will open in Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Grenada, Lesotho, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Swaziland, Tonga and Vanuatu and a British office in Somaliland like the one in Taipei, Taiwan[8]
Flag used on British Embassies (pictured in Rome).
The United Kingdom is one of two countries, the other being Thailand, that use diplomatic flags abroad. These special flags are flown at the chanceries of their embassies and consulates. For High Commissions, the Union Flag is used. In addition, there is a flag in use for British consular vessels in international or foreign waters.
↑ The British Consulate-General, Hong Kong reports directly to the FCDO, instead of the British embassy in Beijing
↑ The British Consulate-General, Jerusalem reports directly to the FCDO, instead of the British embassy in Tel Aviv
↑ The British Embassy to the Holy See is located outside Vatican territory in Rome.
↑ The embassy closed down on 24 April 1975, in the midst of the Fall of Saigon, which marked the end of the Vietnam War and the start of a transition period to the formal reunification of Vietnam.
1Diplomatic posts only with no consular facilities. 2Consular posts only with no diplomatic functions. 3The United Kingdom and His Majesty's Government do not recognise or have formal bilateral intergovernmental, diplomatic or consular relations with the (generally unrecognised) Government of the Republic of China in Taipei. Functions in Taiwan as an accredited informal and unofficial representative post and a semi-official informal consular post.
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