Sir Robert Andrew Burns (born 21 July 1943) is a British former diplomat in 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 ...

Early life

Burns was born on 21 July 1943 and educated at Highgate School.(Robert) Andrew BURNS
'' Debrett's People of Today'' He graduated from

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

, with a Master of Arts (MA).

Diplomatic career

Burns served with the Diplomatic Service between 1965 and 2003, beginning his career as an

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

and

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

speaker at the British High Commission in New Delhi in the 1960s. Serving in New Delhi between 1967 and 1971, the later returned to London where he served as the United Kingdom's Delegate to the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe between 1975 and 1981.''The International Who's Who 2004''
Europa Publications, 2003, page 249 He later became Head of South Asia Department between 1986 and 1988. He held the office of Ambassador to Israel between 1992 and 1995. He was later appointed as British Consul General to Hong Kong and Macao, serving between 1997 and 2000. He then became British High Commissioner to Canada, serving from 2000 to 2003.Sir Andrew Burns KCMG
Diplomatic Society,

Royal Holloway, University of London Royal Holloway, University of London (RH), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public university, public research university and a constituent college, member institution of the federal University of London. It ...

, 17 March 2013

Subsequent career

In June 2005, Burns was appointed to the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Board of Governors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulations ...

as International Governor, replacing Dame Pauline Neville-Jones.New International Governor appointed

, 8 June 2005 In June 2010, he was appointed the United Kingdom's first Envoy for post-Holocaust issues. He held this post until September 2015. He was succeeded in the role by Sir

Eric Pickles Eric Jack Pickles, Baron Pickles, (born 20 April 1952) is a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Brentwood and Ongar from 1992 United ...

.United Kingdom Special Envoy for post-Holocaust issues The Rt Hon Sir Eric Pickles MP

Government of the United Kingdom His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

He was Chair of Council of Royal Holloway, a constituent college of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. He was appointed to succeed Lady Deech as the chair of the Bar Standards Board from 1 January 2015.Former diplomat to head bar's regulator
'' Law Gazette'', 22 July 2014 Burns was also previously Chairman of the China Association between 2008 and 2014 and is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (RSA).

References

External links

(Robert) Andrew BURNS
'' Debrett's People of Today'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Robert Andrew 1943 births High commissioners of the United Kingdom to Canada Living people Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George People educated at Highgate School People associated with Royal Holloway, University of London Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Israel Consuls-general for the United Kingdom in Hong Kong