Nigel Baker
Nigel Marcus Baker is a diplomat, who was formerly British Ambassador to Bolivia and British Ambassador to the Holy See. He is currently Head of the Latin America department at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and in August 2020 he will take up his appointment as British Ambassador to Slovakia.Career
Baker was educated at Dulwich College and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge where he gained a first class degree in history. After a brief period as researcher in the Conservative Research Department he joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1989. After early overseas postings in Prague and Bratislava he took a research sabbatical in Verona studying Italian and European history.
Returning to the FCO, he was Head of the European Defence Section in the Security Policy Department between 1998–2000. He was then assistant Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales 2000–03, Deputy Head of Mission, Havana, 2003–06 and Ambassador to Bolivia 2007–11 before being appointed to the Holy See. He presented his credentials to Pope Benedict XVI on 9 September 2011. In 2016, he returned to the FCO as Deputy Director for the Americas and Head of the South America Department. He became Deputy Director and Head of the Latin America Department in 2018.
Baker was appointed MVO in 2003 for services to the Prince of Wales, and OBE in 2010.
In 2013 he edited Britain and the Holy See: A Celebration of 1982 and the Wider Relationship, which set out the proceedings of the 2012 Rome Colloquium on the relationship between Britain and the Holy See. Contributors include Professor Eamon Duffy, Professor Judith Champ, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Cardinal Keith Patrick O'Brien, and Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor.
In August 2020 he will become Ambassador to Slovakia, and will succeed Andrew Garth.
