Britain's Ambassador to Luxembourg shares tips with future diplomats

A diplomat's career does not always go according to plan but that does not mean it cannot be extremely rewarding, Britain's Ambassador to Luxembourg told Luxembourg's future ambassadors.

In a special event hosted at the residence on Friday, the Honourable Alice Walpole gave a run-down of her 30-year career in the British Foreign Service to around 35 members of the Luxembourg Youth Parliament.

She outlined the expectations she had at the beginning of her career: not to work in the Middle East, or Brussels but to focus on cultural issues and be based in Asia.

“30 years on and I've spent most of my time dealing with conflict, mostly in the Middle East,” she said, adding: “My career didn't turn out at all as I had expected.”

Ms Walpole, who has been stationed in places as varied as Helmand Province in Afghanistan, Basra in Iraq, Tanzania, Brussels and New York, told the young people that one of the best things about working in the Foreign Service was learning about fields she wouldn't normally have chosen. In Luxembourg, it was the financial services sector, in Iraq the oil business.

Each placement is different she said and none are ever predictable. The Ambassador recalled the moment when her family was going out from their home in New York in 2001, only to see a plane fly overhead. She later learned it had collided with the second tower of the World Trade Center.

In Tanazania during the '90s, she knew to expect some instability, but could never have predicted the turmoil happening in neighbouring Rwanda.

While, Ms Walpole said that each experience is different, she said the thread running through what an ambassador does, remains the same: “You're getting out in the world and representing your country.”

Among the key lessons learned in her career, the ambassador stressed the importance of openness and forming friendships, because one never knows when one might encounter them again or need their help.

Luxembourg's Youth Parliament is composed of 150 members divided among five committees.