Christopher Norman Russell Prentice (born 5 September 1954) is a retired British diplomat. His last diplomatic post was Ambassador to Italy. He is currently Chairman of the Governors of the British Institute of Florence.
Prentice had been a British diplomat since 1977. From 2002 to 2006 he served as British Ambassador to Jordan, and from 2007 to 2009 as Ambassador to Iraq.
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, Prentice is a former cricketer who played a single
first-class cricket
First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...
match for
Oxford University
The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...
, scoring 4 and 19 in a game against
Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...
.
Prentice speaks fluent
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
and Hungarian. He is married to Marie-Josephine (Nina) with whom he has two sons and two daughters. One daughter, Helen, a doctor, married his predecessor's nephew, Mark, Viscount Asquith in May 2008 in Ashbury, Oxfordshire.
Prentice was appointed
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George I ...
the Iraq Inquiry
The Iraq Inquiry (also referred to as the Chilcot Inquiry after its chairman, Sir John Chilcot)
From March to May 2011 Prentice led the UK's diplomatic team in Libya which liaised closely with the opposition in Benghazi.
Career highlights
*1977–1978 FCO, Desk Officer, Near East and North Africa Department
*1985–1989 Washington, First secretary (Near East and South Asia)
*1989–1990 FCO, Assistant Head of European Community Department (External)
*1990–1993 FCO, Assistant Private Secretary to Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd
*1994–1998 Budapest, Deputy Head of Mission
*1998–2002 FCO, Head of Near East and North Africa Department
*2002–2006 Amman, Her Majesty's Ambassador
*2006–2007 UK Special Representative, later FCO Co-ordinator for the Sudan Peace Process
*2007–2009 Iraq, Her Majesty's Ambassador
*2011–2016 Italy, Her Majesty's Ambassador