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Paul Johnston

Ambassador to Ireland

Part of UK in Sweden

7th November 2013

A Royal Return Visit

One of the highlights of my time so far in Stockholm was the visit by The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall in March 2012. Just over 18 months later, The Crown Princess and Prince Daniel are visiting London this week. The themes for the visits are very similar: young people, technology, climate change, entrepreneurship and innovation.

The Royal couple will visit an inner London school, and the UK’s IT hub at Tech City in the East end of London. They’ll meet the Mayor of London, and the Lord Mayor of the City of London. The Lord Mayor kindly gave two scholarships recently to bright young Swedes.

The Crown Princess and Prince Daniel will also visit Cambridge, to see a Skanska housing project, and, at the University, to discuss conservation, local and international sustainability solutions, international Governance and Human Rights.

The overlap in themes between the 2012 and 2013 visits is no surprise: it illustrates just some of the areas where Sweden and the UK, public and private sectors alike, have so much in common and so much to discuss.

It will be a privilege to accompany the Royal Couple and, once the visit is over, to have a cup of tea with the Dean of Trinity College, Cambridge, not just a brilliant academic, but the vicar that married my lovely wife and me!

About Paul Johnston

Paul Johnston joined the UK Civil Service in 1990, working for the Ministry of Defence initially. He has served in Paris and New York and has also had a wide…

Paul Johnston joined the UK Civil Service in 1990, working for the Ministry of Defence initially.

He has served in Paris and New York and has also had a wide range of political and security roles in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London. Paul joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1993 as Desk Officer for Bosnia. As part of this role he was also Private Secretary to EU negotiator Lord Owen and his representative on Bosnia Contact Group.

His first foreign posting was to Paris in 1995-99 as Second Secretary Political. He was Private Secretary to the Ambassador and latterly part of the UK delegation to the Kosovo Rambouillet negotiations. Then he returned to London as Head of the Kosovo Policy Team, leading work on post-conflict policy in the EU, NATO, UN and G8.

Before his second overseas posting to New York in 2005, Paul held a variety of other EU policy and security appointments in London, such as Head of European Defence Section between 2000-01 and Head of Security Policy Department between 2002-04.

As Head of the Political Section in UKMIS New York, he advised on major policy issues for the UK on the Security Council and the UN World Summit, including the UK EU Presidency in 2005.

Paul returned to London in 2008 as Director, International Security for the FCO. He was responsible for policy on UN, NATO, European Security, arms control and disarmament, human rights and good governance.

Paul was British Ambassador to Sweden from August 2011 to August 2015 and then was Deputy Permanent Representative to NATO.

He was UK Ambassador to the EU for Political and Security affairs from 2017 to January 2020 and became Ambassador to Ireland in September 2020.