Avatar photo

Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

Part of UK in Australia

13th June 2014

Celebrating the Queen’s Birthday with the Governor General

Australia’s new Governor General, Sir Peter Cosgrove, is clearly enjoying his role. He gave a very warm speech at a dinner in Canberra last night, hosted by the Royal Commonwealth Society and the Australia Britain Society (of which I am the Patron) to celebrate the birthday of HM The Queen.

HE Paul Madden with HE Sir Peter Cosgrove, Governor General
HE Paul Madden with HE Sir Peter Cosgrove, Governor General

The Governor General used the occasion to talk about some of the individual recipients of Australian awards announced in the Birthday Honours here last week. They ranged from prominent academics making life-saving medical innovations, to ordinary citizens involved in local community activities like Meals on Wheels. It was an excellent example of what Sir Peter described as the Governor General’s role in shining a light on the best of the country.

Sir Peter told me how much he had enjoyed hosting the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge recently, at the start of his term of office, and how he is looking forward to his first official visit to the UK as Governor General to call on the Queen later this year.

The local President of the Australia Britain Society, Bob Nattey, a retired senior Royal Australian Navy officer, described how his experiences as an exchange student at the Royal Naval College Dartmouth, alongside students from Britain and many Commonwealth countries, had had a profound effect on his commitment to the Commonwealth over the years. President of the Canberra Royal Commonwealth Society, Kanti Jinna, told me how he had worked closely with the British Council when establishing the Fijian National Library many years ago.

A number of my fellow High Commissioners from other Commonwealth countries were also present, including the Sri Lankan High Commissioner who is also a Dartmouth alumnae. It was another reminder of the dense web of personal ties which underlie the formal relationships between Commonwealth countries.

About Paul Madden

Paul Madden has been the British Ambassador to Japan from January 2017. He was Additional Director for Asia Pacific at the FCO in 2015.He was British High Commissioner to Australia…

Paul Madden has been the British Ambassador to Japan from January 2017.

He was Additional Director for Asia Pacific at the FCO in 2015.He was British High Commissioner to Australia until February 2015. Prior to this he was British High Commissioner in Singapore from 2007-2011.

A career diplomat, he was previously Managing Director at UK Trade and Investment (2004-2006), responsible for co-ordinating and
implementing international trade development strategies to support
companies across a wide range of business sectors.

As Assistant Director of Information at the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office (2003-2004) he was responsible for public diplomacy policy,
including managing the FCO funding of the BBC World Service, the British
Council and the Chevening Scholarships programme. He led the team
responsible for the award-winning UK pavilion at the Aichi Expo in Japan
2005.

He was Deputy High Commissioner in Singapore from 2000-2003 and has
also served in Washington (1996-2000) and Tokyo (1988-92). Between
1992-96 he worked on EU enlargement and Environmental issues at the FCO
in London.

Before joining FCO he worked at the Department of Trade and Industry
(1980-87) on a range of industrial sectors and trade policy, including
two years as a minister’s Private Secretary.

He has an MA in Economic Geography from Cambridge University, an MBA
from Durham University, studied Japanese at London University’s School
of Oriental and African Studies, and is a Fellow of the Royal
Geographical Society. His first book, Raffles: Lessons in Business
Leadership, was published in 2003.

Married to Sarah, with three children, he was born in 1959, in Devon.

Follow Paul

Tags

australia High Commissioner Queen's Birthday Sir Peter Cosgrove