Madeleine Kay Alessandri (born 1965) is a
British civil servant
His Majesty's Home Civil Service, also known as His Majesty's Civil Service, the Home Civil Service, or colloquially as the Civil Service is the permanent bureaucracy or secretariat of Crown employees that supports His Majesty's Government, whi ...
who has had a career in the security and diplomatic services. , she is the
Permanent Secretary
A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior civil servant of a department or ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are the non-political civil s ...
for the
Northern Ireland Office
The Northern Ireland Office (NIO; ga, Oifig Thuaisceart Éireann, Ulster-Scots: ''Norlin Airlann Oaffis'') is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for Northern Ireland affairs. The NIO is led by the Secretary of State for No ...
, replacing
Sir Jonathan Stephens following his retirement.
Alessandri studied Economics with International Relations at the
University of St. Andrews
(Aien aristeuein)
, motto_lang = grc
, mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best
, established =
, type = Public research university
Ancient university
, endowment ...
, and then joined government service in 1988. After a number of roles in overseas national security and diplomatic service, including serving as Political Counsellor at the British Embassy in Japan from 2004–2007, following
Colin Roberts, Alessandri ultimately became a director in the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Alessandri was appointed a 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 IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III.
It is named in hono ...
(CMG) in the
Queen's Birthday Honours in June 2017 for her "services to British foreign policy", whilst serving as a director at the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
From July 2018 until early 2020, Alessandri transferred to the
Cabinet Office, where she served as one of the UK's
Deputy National Security Advisers alongside
David Quarrey
David Quarrey (born 1966) is a British diplomat and the British Ambassador to NATO since 2022. He was formerly acting National Security Adviser, having taken over the role while David Frost continued as the United Kingdom's Chief Negotiator to ...
, supporting the prime minister on national resilience and security. She also serves as National Honorary Chair of the
Civil Service Retirement Fellowship since January 2020.
Offices held
References
External links
Alessandri's page on gov.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alessandri, Madeleine
Living people
1965 births
British civil servants
Alumni of the University of St Andrews
Members of HM Diplomatic Service
Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George
Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for Northern Ireland