Name Patrick Fairweather | ||
Sir Patrick Fairweather KCMG (born 17 June 1936) is a British retired diplomat. He served as Ambassador to Angola from 1985 to 1987 and Ambassador to Albania from 1991 to 1996. He was director of the Butrint Foundation of the Buthrotum Roman archaeological site in southern Albania from 1997 until 2004.
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Background
Fairweather, the son of John George Fairweather and Dorothy Jane (née Boanas), was educated at Ottershaw School in Surrey and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a degree in history. He married Maria (née Merica) in 1962 and the couple have two daughters. Maria died in 2010.
Career
From 1955 until 1957, Fairweather served his National Service in the Royal Marines and Parachute Regiment. He subsequently entered Diplomatic Service. In 1965, Fairweather joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and served as 2nd Secretary in Rome from 1966 to 1969 and 1st and Economic Secretary from 1969 to 1970. He was then appointed to the same position in Paris, serving there from 1970 until 1975.
In 1975, Fairweather became 1st Secretary and Head of Chancery in Vientiane, Laos, and the following year, he was appointed Economic and Commercial Counsellor to the European Economic Community (EEC) in Brussels, which he held until 1978. He next held the same position for five years in Athens. From 1978 to 1983, Fairweather was Head of European Community Department (Internal) of the FCO.
In 1985, Fairweather began serving as an Ambassador when he was appointed Ambassador to Angola. During his two-year term working in Angola, author Robin Renwick states that he "served as the indispensable channel of communications for the Americans". In 1987, he became Assistant Under-Secretary of State of the FCO for Africa and was Deputy Under-Secretary for the Middle East and Africa until the early 1990s. On 29 May 1991, he was appointed non-resident Ambassador to Albania, serving in this post until 1996. He also served as the first director of the Butrint Foundation, which oversaw the Buthrotum Roman archaeological site in southern Albania from 1997 until 2004.