British diplomat
Nigel Robert Haywood
CVO
(born 17 March 1955) is a British diplomat, who served as
British ambassador
to
Estonia
from 2003 until 2008 and
Governor
of the
Falkland Islands
from 2010 until 2014.
[1]
[2]
Early life
[
edit
]
Haywood was born in
Betchworth
,
Surrey
, but moved to his mother's native
Cornwall
when he was nine, following the death of his father.
[3]
Educated at
Truro School
, Haywood studied English at
New College, Oxford
and then attended the
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
before going back to Oxford to study linguistics, eventually becoming a Member of the
Chartered Institute of Linguists
.
[4]
Haywood, a
Cornish language
speaker, was appointed Bard of the
Gorsedh Kernow
in 1976, by the
Bardic name
of Morer (Sea Eagle).
[5]
[6]
Diplomatic career
[
edit
]
After leaving Sandhurst, Haywood was a Lieutenant in the
Royal Army Educational Corps
before joining
Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service
in 1983. He first worked in the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
with postings in the
Republic of Ireland
,
Hungary
,
Israel
, and
Lebanon
. In 1992 he became the Deputy Consul-General in
Johannesburg
and in 1996 he was appointed Deputy Head of the UK's Delegation to the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
in
Vienna
.
[4]
From 2003 to 2008, Haywood was the
Ambassador from the United Kingdom to Estonia
, during which time he and his wife featured in the BBC series
Monarchy: The Royal Family at Work
which documented
Queen Elizabeth II
's 2006 visit to
Tallinn
.
[7]
In October 2006, Haywood was appointed a
Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
(CVO).
[8]
After five years as Ambassador, Haywood became the Consul-General in
Basra
,
Iraq
.
[4]
This earned him the
Iraq Reconstruction Service Medal
.
Falkland Islands
[
edit
]
In 2009, it was announced that Haywood had been appointed
Governor of the Falkland Islands
and
Commissioner for South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
; he took up office on 16 October 2010.
[2]
[9]
As Governor, Haywood led commemorations for the 30th anniversary of the
Falklands War
in 2012
[10]
and strongly criticised
Argentina
's
sovereignty claim over the Falklands
during increased tensions following the 30th anniversary of the war and the decision of the Falkland Islands government to start
oil exploration
in Falklands territorial waters.
[11]
Haywood also used his position to praise the influence of the islands'
Chilean
population and promote links with
Chile
.
[12]
In 2011, the
Argentine Defence minister
,
Arturo Puricelli
, stated that the Falkland Islanders were kept as "hostages" on the islands
[13]
and later suggested that the British military "is the only element that upholds the usurpation of that part of our national territory".
[14]
This led Haywood to propose a referendum to see whether islanders want to remain British or not "so we can solve the issue once and for all".
[15]
A
referendum
was subsequently held in March 2013 in which 99.8% of the islanders voted to remain a
British Overseas Territory
. Following the vote Haywood said, "Obviously it is a major principle of the United Nations that a people have their right to self-determination, and you don't get a much clearer expression of the people's self-determination than such a large turnout and such a large 'yes' vote."
[16]
In late 2012, the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
announced that Haywood would be leaving the Falkland Islands in April 2014, to be replaced as Governor and Commissioner by
Colin Roberts
.
[17]
From 2015, Haywood undertook a PhD studying the
Falklands Fritillary Butterfly
which required him to revisit the islands several times.
[18]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Watson, Lisa (1 September 2009).
"British consul in Basra next Falkland Islands governor"
.
MercoPress
. Retrieved
11 June
2010
.
- ^
a
b
Brock, Juanita (8 October 2010).
"Falklands Programme for New Governor"
.
SARTMA
. Retrieved
16 October
2010
.
- ^
"Falkland Islands: Weekly Penguin News Update"
.
Penguin News
. MercoPress. 4 September 2009
. Retrieved
11 June
2010
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Nigel Haywood, Esq, CVO"
.
Debrett's
. Archived from
the original
on 23 March 2012
. Retrieved
10 June
2010
.
- ^
"Cornish Reunited Sharing our Cornish ancestry"
. Archived from
the original
on 7 September 2014
. Retrieved
22 July
2013
.
- ^
"Gorseth Kernow"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 29 April 2014
. Retrieved
22 July
2013
.
- ^
"Monarchy: Head of State"
.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
. 24 September 2008
. Retrieved
16 October
2010
.
In Estonia, it will be the most exciting - and worrying - 24 hours in the entire career of the British Ambassador to Estonia, Nigel Haywood, and his wife, Louise. It will also be a memorable week for the crew of the chartered jet which will carry The Queen and Prince Philip around the Baltic region.
- ^
"Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood"
.
The London Gazette
. 14 November 2006
. Retrieved
7 March
2014
.
- ^
"Change of Governor of the Falkland Islands"
.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
. 1 September 2009
. Retrieved
10 June
2010
.
- ^
"Falklands turns out to commemorate Liberation Day and pay tribute to British Forces"
.
MercoPress
. 14 June 2012
. Retrieved
1 September
2013
.
- ^
"There is a point where Islanders will say to the Argentines, 'To hell with you.'
"
.
MercoPress
. 7 February 2012
. Retrieved
1 September
2013
.
- ^
"Falklands' governor praises local Chilean community and links with Chile"
.
MercoPress
. 26 September 2011
. Retrieved
1 September
2013
.
- ^
"Argentine election fever: minister accuses UK of keeping hostage "2000 Falklands' Islanders"
"
.
MercoPress
. 29 June 2011
. Retrieved
10 March
2013
.
- ^
"Argentina shows off jet model and calls on UK to dialogue on Falklands' sovereignty"
.
MercoPress
. 13 August 2012
. Retrieved
10 March
2013
.
- ^
"Falklands open to UN referendum to decide whether Islanders want to remain British"
.
MercoPress
. 29 March 2012
. Retrieved
10 March
2013
.
- ^
"Falklands referendum: Voters choose to remain UK territory"
.
BBC News
. 12 March 2013
. Retrieved
1 September
2013
.
- ^
"Head of BOT Department, next Governor of the Falkland Islands"
.
MercoPress
. 21 December 2012
. Retrieved
10 March
2013
.
- ^
"Studying the Falklands Fritillary Butterfly"
. FITV. 2018.