Alan Charlton

Alan Charlton CMG CVO (born 21 June 1952) is a British former diplomat who was Ambassador to Brazil 2008–2013.^[1] He is now active in Education, lectures and writes.

Biography

He attended Nottingham High School, and then Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge (MA), Leicester University (PGCE) and Manchester University (BLing).

He joined the Diplomatic Service in 1978 and in his early career served in the British Embassy in Amman, after learning Arabic, and in the British Military Government in Berlin.

He was Deputy British Ambassador to the United States and Germany. He worked on a wide range of issues, notably former Yugoslavia when he was a lead player in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the 1990s. He was made a Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George in the 1996 New Year Honours in recognition of this work.

He was British Ambassador to Brazil for 4 years 7 months, leading five posts:^[2] the Embassy in Brasilia; Consulates-General in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Recife; and a Trade Office in Porto Alegre. During his period of office, he pressed forward in Brazil with a major UK government effort to strengthen relations with both the large emerging economies and with Latin America. There was a sharp increase in Ministerial visits, including both Gordon Brown and David Cameron, and increased support and encouragement for British business. UK and Brazil agreed a Strategic Partnership with annual meetings led by Foreign Ministers to review and boost bilateral relations.^[3] His particular focus in Brazil was on working with British business, education and science.^[4]

His career was marked by visits overseas by the British Royal Family, most notably the State Visit of Queen Elizabeth II to the USA in 2007, after which he was made Commander of the Royal Victorian Order for his role. The visit of Prince Harry to Brazil in 2009 on his first solo overseas tour, gave a major boost to the UK profile.^[5]

He is now a Governor of De Montfort University, the Robin Humphries Fellow at the Institute of Latin American Studies (ILAS) University of London and an Honorary Professor of Nottingham University. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Brazil Institute of King's College London and of ILAS. He is a Governor of Sherborne School. He has lectured in Germany, US, Brazil and UK and on cruise ships including the Queen Mary 2. He speaks Portuguese, German and French.

He is the President and Founder of the British-Brazilian Conversa, a forum for discussion under the Chatham House Rule for business people, public policy makers, educationalists and others with the aim of making more of the synergies between the two countries in these interconnected fields. The first meeting was held in Cambridge from 5–7 September 2014. Conversa 2 will be held from 13–15 November 2015 in Rio de Janeiro.

Career

• 1978–1979: Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Desk Officer in West Africa Department
• 1979–1980: Arabic language training
• 1981–1984: British Embassy Amman, Second, later First, Secretary
• 1984–1986: Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Desk Officer for Israel and Lebanon
• 1986–1990: Berlin, British Military Government (later British Mission) Deputy Political Adviser
• 1991–1992: Cabinet Office, Deputy Chief of Assessments Staff
• 1993–1996: Foreign and Commonwealth Office Head of East Adriatic Unit and UK member of Bosnia Contact Group
• 1996–2001: British Embassy Bonn (later Berlin), Counsellor then Deputy Head of Mission
• 2001–2001: Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Director, South East Europe
• 2001–2004: Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Director of Human Resources *2004–2007: British Embassy Washington, Deputy Head of Mission
• 2008–2013: British Ambassador, Brasilia^[1]

References