An Accidental Diplomat

It is April 1998, and Nigel Thorpe is in Budapest, now a democracy free from Soviet rule and Communism. He has just presented his credentials to the President of Hungary as British Ambassador and finds himself being called “Excellency”, with a chauffeur waiting outside in a British racing-green Jaguar flying the Union Jack. As he prepares to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, he reflects on how an ordinary boy from South London, with few expectations as a child or young adult, came to find himself there. His story is one of bad judgements, good timing and luck.