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Andrew Mitchell, British Ambassador to Sweden

About the Ambassador

Andrew Mitchell was born in Lancashire in 1967 and brought up close to Liverpool. Andrew’s roots are in the city of Liverpool and the city’s fascination with football goes right through Andrew too, “like a stick of Blackpool rock”.

After a stint working in Geneva (“something that opened my eyes to the world outside and kick-started my passion for travel”) Andrew moved to Oxford where he studied for a degree in French and Spanish and spent a little too much time engaged in vigorous physical activity (“I think I managed to play cricket, tennis, football, rugby, real tennis, squash and hockey…”) and in the more aesthetic pursuits (Andrew wrote “shockingly poor poetry” and acted in a number of “rather more successful” stage productions).

After college Andrew worked for a wine merchant for a while and developed an interest in the study of wine. He joined the Foreign Office in 1991. Since then Andrew has had postings in Bonn (1993-1996) where he covered the German political scene and Kathmandu (1999-2002) where Andrew was first Deputy Head of Mission then Chargé d’Affaires. Andrew describes this as “an amazing posting, the most magical, wonderful place, but in terrible turmoil; a lot for a diplomat to get stuck into…” Andrew’s most recent appointment was in London (2002-2007), where he was responsible for the Foreign Office’s global ICT infrastructure.

Andrew is married to Helen, herself a career diplomat, and together they have three young children. Andrew spends as much time with the family as his professional duties allow (“I can’t honestly imagine anything much more wonderful than picnicking with Helen and the kids on an island in the Stockholm archipelago, with the kids splashing in the water, the sun going down in the west and the insects buzzing through the trees”). Andrew still enjoys sport, runs regularly and plays football, squash and tennis when he can. He and Helen also enjoy Stockholm’s rich cultural life, of theatre, music, opera and ballet, as well as Swedish literature. And they have many friends in Stockholm. “It’s a great city,” he says.