List of diplomatic missions of the United Kingdom

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Diplomatic missions of the United Kingdom Diplomatic missions of the United Kingdom.png
Diplomatic missions of the United Kingdom

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.

Contents

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. [2] In 2012, Foreign Secretary William 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. [3] In 2013, a UK government office was established in Seattle. [4] In 2014, all services at the former UK Consulate in Orlando were transferred to the nearby UK Consulate-General in Miami. [5] In 2015, the UK Consulate-General in Denver was reclassified as a UK Government Office. [6] 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 [7]

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. [8]

Africa

Americas

Asia

Europe

Oceania

Multilateral organisations

Closed missions

Africa

Host countryHost cityMissionYear closedRef.
Flag of Cameroon.svg  Cameroon Douala Consulate2005 [8] [21]
Flag of the Republic of the Congo.svg  Congo-Brazzaville Brazzaville Embassy1991/2 [21]
Flag of Gabon.svg  Gabon Libreville Embassy1991/2 [21]
Flag of Libya.svg  Libya Benghazi Consulate2012 [22]
Flag of Sudan.svg  Sudan Khartoum Embassy2023 [23]

Americas

Host countryHost cityMission levelYear closedRef.
Flag of Colombia.svg  Colombia Barranquilla Consulate1998 [8]
Cali Consulate2014 [24]
Cartagena Consulate2014 [24]
Flag of Honduras.svg  Honduras Tegucigalpa Embassy2003 [8] [25]
Flag of Nicaragua.svg  Nicaragua Managua Embassy2003 [8]
Flag of the United States.svg  United States Cleveland Consulate1999 [8]
Dallas Consulate2005 [8] [26]
Orlando Consulate2014 [27]
San Juan, Puerto Rico Consulate2005 [8] [26]

Asia

Host countryHost cityMissionYear closedRef.
Flag of Afghanistan (2013-2021).svg  Afghanistan Kabul Embassy2021
Flag of East Timor.svg  East Timor Dili Embassy2007 [8]
Flag of Iraq.svg  Iraq Basra Consulate2012 [24]
Flag of Japan.svg  Japan Fukuoka Consulate2006 [8]
Hakodate Consulate1934 [28]
Nagoya Consulate2007 [8]
Shimonoseki Consulate1940 [29]
Yokohama Consulate 1972
Flag of Malaysia.svg  Malaysia Kuching Consulate General1999 [8]
Flag of the Republic of China.svg Republic of China Kashgar Consulate-General1949 [30]
Flag of South Vietnam.svg  South Vietnam [a] Saigon Embassy1975 [31]
Flag of Syria.svg  Syria Damascus Embassy2012 [8] [24]
Flag of Thailand.svg  Thailand Chiang Mai Consulate1999 [8]
Pattaya Consulate2012 [24] [32]
Flag of Yemen.svg  Yemen Sanaa Embassy2015 [33]
Aden Consulate-General2005 [8]

Europe

Host countryHost cityMissionYear closedRef.
Flag of France.svg  France Calais Consulate1980 [34]
Lille Consulate-General2011 [8] [24]
Lyon Consulate-General2012 [24]
Flag of Germany.svg  Germany Bonn Embassy branch office2002 [35]
Frankfurt Consulate General2005 [36]
Hamburg Consulate General2006 [37]
Leipzig Consulate General2005 [36]
Stuttgart Consulate General2006 [36]
Flag of Italy.svg  Italy Florence Consulate2011 [24] [38]
Naples Consulate2012 [38]
Turin Consulate2006 [21] [39]
Venice Consulate-General2011 [24]
Flag of Greece.svg  Greece Thessaloniki Consular office2013 [24]
Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal Funchal Consulate2012 [24]
Porto Consular office2012 [24]
Flag of Russia.svg  Russia Saint Petersburg Consulate General 2018 [40]
Flag of Spain.svg  Spain Seville Consulate2001 [8]
Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden Gothenburg Consulate-General2006 [8]
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   Switzerland Geneva Consulate-General2010 [24]
Zürich Consulate-General1998 [8]

Oceania

Host countryHost cityMissionYear closedRef.
Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Adelaide Consulate2006 [8] [21]
Flag of Kiribati.svg  Kiribati Tarawa High Commission1994 [41]

Flags

Flag used on British Embassies (pictured in Rome). Flag of British Embassies (Rome) - photograph.jpg
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.

FlagUseDescription
British Ambassador Flag.svg Flag used by British EmbassiesA Union Flag defaced with the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Flag used by British High CommissionsA Union Flag
Flag of the Consulates and Consulates General of the United Kingdom.svg Flag used by British Consulates and Consulates-GeneralA Union Flag defaced with the St Edward’s Crown
Diplomatic ensign.png Flag used by Consular officials onboard vesselsA Blue Ensign with the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom

See also

Notes

  1. The British Consulate-General, Hong Kong reports directly to the FCDO, instead of the British embassy in Beijing
  2. The British Consulate-General, Jerusalem reports directly to the FCDO, instead of the British embassy in Tel Aviv
  3. Some embassy staff have been temporarily withdrawn due to the 2023 Israel–Hamas war.
  4. The British Embassy to the Holy See is located outside Vatican territory in Rome.
  1. 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.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diplomatic mission</span> Representatives of one state in another

A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually denotes an embassy or high commission, which is the main office of a country's diplomatic representatives to another country; it is usually, but not necessarily, based in the receiving state's capital city. Consulates, on the other hand, are smaller diplomatic missions that are normally located in major cities of the receiving state. As well as being a diplomatic mission to the country in which it is situated, an embassy may also be a nonresident permanent mission to one or more other countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office</span> Ministerial department of the UK Government

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the ministry of foreign affairs and a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heads of Diplomatic Missions of the United Kingdom</span>

The Heads of British diplomatic missions are persons appointed as senior diplomats to individual nations, or international organizations. They are usually appointed as ambassadors, except in member countries of the Commonwealth of Nations where a high commissioner is appointed. The head of mission to an international organization is usually a permanent representative. For some nations a consul or consul-general is appointed.

Diplomatic rank is a system of professional and social rank used in the world of diplomacy and international relations. A diplomat's rank determines many ceremonial details, such as the order of precedence at official processions, table seatings at state dinners, the person to whom diplomatic credentials should be presented, and the title by which the diplomat should be addressed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Consul (representative)</span> Diplomatic rank

A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Consulate</span> Official office of one country in another country

A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of diplomatic mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country, usually an embassy. The term "consulate" may refer not only to the office of a consul, but also to the building occupied by the consul and the consul's staff. The consulate may share premises with the embassy itself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High commissioner (Commonwealth)</span> Senior diplomatic position

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Office Taipei</span> Representative office in Taipei, Taiwan

British Office Taipei, formerly British Trade and Cultural Office (BTCO), is the representative office of the United Kingdom Government in Taiwan. It maintains and develops financial, educational, cultural, and technological relations and provides assistance to British nationals in Taiwan. It functions as a de facto embassy in the absence of diplomatic relations between London and Taipei.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Consulate-General of the United Kingdom, Saint Petersburg</span> Diplomatic mission

The Consulate-General of the United Kingdom in Saint Petersburg was part of the diplomatic mission of the United Kingdom in the Russian Federation, before it was closed down in 2018. It was located on Lafonskaya Street in Tsentralny District.

References

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  21. 1 2 3 4 5 "Annex" (PDF). parliament.uk.
  22. "Westerners in Benghazi at Imminent Risk of Terror Threat". International Business Times. 2 July 2014. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
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