Frank Roberts (diplomat)

Sir Frank Kenyon Roberts, GCMG, GCVO (27 October 1907 – 7 January 1998) was a British diplomat. He played a key role in British diplomacy in the early years of the Cold War, and in developing Anglo-German relations in the 1960s.

Born in Buenos Aires, he was educated at Bedales, Rugby and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1930 with first-class honours in history. He entered the Foreign Office in 1930, having been first-placed in the entrance examination.

His first overseas posting was to Paris, followed by Cairo where he married Celeste Leila Beatrix "Cella" Shoucair (died 1990). Roberts returned to London in 1937 to work in the central department of the Foreign Office, where as a still relatively-junior official he was involved in much of the diplomacy with Germany in the lead-up to World War II. When war broke out, he was British joint secretary of the Anglo-French war council from 1939 to 1940.

He was based in in London until January 1945, when he was posted to Moscow, serving as an advisor to Churchill at the Yalta conference and as British minister to the Soviet Union until 1947. With the United States ambassador, George Kennan, he developed the analysis of Soviet foreign policy which formed the basis of the British and American policy of containment. He returned to London in 1947 as private secretary to Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin, where he was involved in the negotiations with the Russians and the Americans over the Berlin airlift in 1947 and 1948. He was then Deputy High Commissioner to India from 1949 to 1951), Deputy-Under Secretary of State at the Foreign Office from 1951 to 1954, Ambassador to Yugoslavia from 1954 to 1957, British Permanent Representative on the North Atlantic Council from 1957 to 1960, Ambassador to the USSR from 1960 to 1962, and Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany from 1963 to 1968. He was awarded a CMG in 1946, a KCMG in 1956, advanced to GCMG in 1963, and made GCVO in 1965.

Roberts was a hard-working and skilful negotiator, well-informed, and skilled in finding a way through difficulties. He won the confidence of the many ministers he served, including Churchill, Bevin, Eden, Macmillan, Butler, Heath, Wilson, Stewart, and Brown. He also developed a good relationship with the foreign leaders he dealt with, including Stalin, Tito, Adenauer, Brandt, and Schmidt. However, his role in the development of a close relationship between Britain and Germany did not lead to stronger German support for British membership of the EEC.

He and his wife had no children. He maintained good health in his lengthy retirement, serving on the member of the Duncan committee on overseas representation in 1969, president of the British Atlantic Committee and of the European Atlantic Group, on the council of Chatham House. His main interest remained with Germany: he was president the German chamber of commerce and industry in the UK, chairman of the steering committee of the Königswinter conference and a founder member of the young Königswinter conference. He also accepted non-executive directorships of German and British companies, including Mercedes Benz and Unilever (for whom his father had worked in Buenos Aires).

After his wife's death in 1990, he published in 1991 his memoirs, "Dealing with Dictators", which she had helped him to write. In the 1990s, he became known as television commentator on the history of the 1940s and 1950s. He died in Kensington, London on 7 January 1998.

References

* [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/67498 Sir Frank Kenyon Roberts] in the Dictionary of National Biography
* [http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/01/interviews/roberts/index.html 1995 CNN interview]

Publications

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External links

* [http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0014%2FROBT The Papers of Sir Frank Roberts] at the Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge
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