Jill Gallard is a British diplomat who served as

British Ambassador to Germany The British ambassador to Germany is the United Kingdom's foremost diplomatic representative in the Federal Republic of Germany, and in charge of the UK's diplomatic mission in Germany. The official title is ''His Britannic Majesty's Ambassado ...

from November 2020 to September 2024. Previously she was the

British Ambassador to Portugal The Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Portugal is the United Kingdom's foremost Diplomat, diplomatic representative in the Portuguese Republic, and head of the UK's diplomatic mission in Portugal. For ambassadors from the Court of St James's t ...

, director of human resources at the

Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the ministry of foreign affairs and a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. The office was created on 2 ...

and deputy political director at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Early life

Born in

Omagh Omagh (; from , meaning 'the virgin plain') is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers River Drumragh, Drumragh and Camowen River, Camowen meet to form the River Strule, Strule. Northern Ireland's c ...

, Northern Ireland, and raised in Omagh and

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

, Gallard was educated at Ballyclare High School and gained an MA degree in French and Spanish from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

Career

Gallard joined the

(FCO) in 1991. She has served at

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

and

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

and in various posts at the FCO, including at the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. She was Ambassador to Portugal from 2011 to 2014 and director of

human resources Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include ' ...

at the FCO from 2014 to 2018. left, with the Scottish First Minister in 2024 Gallard was appointed CMG in the

2018 Birthday Honours The 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth II to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by ci ...

. From 2018 to 2020 she was deputy political director and director of the

Western Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

and

Eastern Mediterranean The Eastern Mediterranean is a loosely delimited region comprising the easternmost portion of the Mediterranean Sea, and well as the adjoining land—often defined as the countries around the Levantine Sea. It includes the southern half of Turkey ...

at the FCO. In July 2020 Gallard was appointed Ambassador to Germany and took up the position in November. She was the first ever woman to hold the position. In March 2023 she received King

Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

and

Queen Camilla Camilla (born Camilla Rosemary Shand, later Parker Bowles, 17 July 1947) is List of British royal consorts, Queen of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms as the wife of King Charles III. Camilla was raised in East ...

on their first outbound state visit. In honour of this she was appointed a

Commander of The Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order () is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch, members of the royal family, or to any viceroy or senior representative of the ...

in November 2023, with the appointment backdated to the date of the state visit. In March 2024 it was announced that her successor would be

Andrew Jonathan Mitchell Andrew Jonathan Mitchell (born 7 March 1967) is a British ambassador and civil servant. From 4 September 2024, he has served as the British ambassador to Germany. Career Mitchell joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1991, serving i ...

from September 2024, with Gallard transferring to another posting.

Personal life

Gallard is married and has two children. She is

multilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gallard, Jill 1968 births Living people Alumni of the University of Edinburgh British women ambassadors Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Portugal Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Germany People from Omagh Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order