William Boyd McCleary (born 30 March 1949) is a retired

British diplomat His Majesty's Diplomatic Service (HMDS) is the diplomatic service of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, dealing with foreign affairs and representing British interests overseas, as opposed to the Civil Service, which deals ...

originally from

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

, Northern Ireland. In September 2010 he was appointed

Governor of the British Virgin Islands The governor of the Virgin Islands is the representative of the British monarch in the United Kingdom's overseas territory of the British Virgin Islands. The governor is appointed by the monarch on the advice of the British government. The r ...

, to act as the ''de facto''

head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "

he head of state He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

in the Territory. Prior to his appointment as governor McCleary served as High Commissioner to

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

from 2006 to 2010. In 2008 he was presented by Malaysian activists with a memorandum condemning the

Batang Kali massacre The Batang Kali massacre was the killing of 24 unarmed male civilians in Batang Kali by the British Army's Scots Guards on 12 December 1948. The massacre took place in Batang Kali, Malaya (now Malaysia) during the Malayan Emergency, a communis ...

in which the

Scots Guards The Scots Guards (SG) is one of the five Foot guards#United Kingdom, Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. Its origins are as the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland. Its lineage can be traced back to 1642 in the Ki ...

executed 24 unarmed civilians. Shortly after his arrival in the British Virgin Islands, the territory was damaged by

Hurricane Earl The name Earl has been used for eight tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean. * Hurricane Earl (1980) — a Category 1 hurricane that drifted over the central Atlantic Ocean without affecting land. * Hurricane Earl (1986) — a Category 2 hurric ...

. At the time of his appointment there was a degree of tension over constitutional matters between the United Kingdom and the British Virgin Islands,; McCleary was praised in the local press for his deft handling of the situation. He is on the advisory board of OMFIF where he is regularly involved in meetings regarding the financial and monetary system. Previously, he was also one of the patrons of the British Theatre Playhouse, a company aiming to produce British theatrical plays and musical shows.

References

Offices

External links

Boyd McCleary CMG, CVO, Governor to the British Virgin Islands
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCleary, William Boyd 1949 births Living people Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Governors of the British Virgin Islands High commissioners of the United Kingdom to Malaysia Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Civil servants from Belfast 21st-century British diplomats