United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James

The United States ambassador to the United Kingdom, formally the ambassador of the United States of America to the Court of St James's is the official representative of the president of the United States and the American government to the monarch (Court of St. James's) and government of the United Kingdom. The position was last held by Jane D. Hartley, who presented her credentials to Queen Elizabeth II on July 19, 2022.

Ambassador of the United States of America to the Court of St James's
Seal of the United States Department of State
Flag of the United States Ambassador
Incumbent Matthew Palmer Chargé d'affaires since January 20, 2025
U.S. Department of State
Style	His or Her Excellency (formal) Mr. or Madam Ambassador (informal)
Reports to	United States Secretary of State
Residence	Winfield House
Seat	Embassy of the United States, London, United Kingdom
Appointer	President of the United States with the advice and consent of the Senate
Term length	At the pleasure of the President
Inaugural holder	John Adams (as Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of St. James's)
Formation	1785
Website	uk.usembassy.gov

The position is regarded as one of the most prestigious posts in the United States Foreign Service due to the "special relationship" between the United States and the United Kingdom. The ambassadorship has been held by various notable politicians, including five who would later become president: John Adams, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren and James Buchanan. However, the modern tendency of American presidents (of both parties) is to appoint keen political fundraisers from previous presidential campaigns, despite the importance and prestige of the office.

The ambassador and executive staff work at the American Embassy in Nine Elms, London. The official residence of the ambassador is Winfield House in Regent's Park.

Duties

The ambassador's main duty is to present U.S. policies to the government of the United Kingdom and its people, as well as report British policies and views to the federal government of the United States. The ambassador serves as a primary channel of communication between the two nations and plays an important role in treaty negotiations.

The ambassador is the head of the United States' consular service in the United Kingdom. As well as directing diplomatic activity in support of trade, the ambassador is ultimately responsible for visa services and for the provision of consular support to American citizens in the UK and oversees cultural relations between the two countries.

List of U.S. chiefs of mission to the Court of St James's

Ministers (1785–1812)

  Independent

  Democratic-Republican

  Democrat

  Whig

  Republican

John Adams is referred to as the first "ambassador". He is also referred to as the first "minister plenipotentiary". Plenipotentiary means "having full power"; a minister that has power to act for their country in all matters.

Name	Portrait	Appointment	Presentation	Termination	Appointer		Notes
John Adams		February 24, 1785	June 1, 1785	February 20, 1788		Congress	Second president of the United States
Thomas Pinckney		January 12, 1792	August 9, 1792	July 27, 1796		George Washington
Rufus King		May 20, 1796	July 27, 1796	May 16, 1803
James Monroe		1803	August 17, 1803	October 7, 1807		Thomas Jefferson	Fifth president of the United States
William Pinkney		February 26, 1808	April 27, 1808	May 7, 1811
Jonathan Russell		July 27, 1811	November 15, 1811	June 18, 1812		James Madison

Ministers (1815–1893)

Diplomatic relations with what had now become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland were restored after the War of 1812. The Congress of Vienna (1815) established a uniform system of diplomatic rank. Under that system, the highest rank of "ambassador" was a personal representative of a sovereign, and the next rank of "minister", represented a government. As a republic, the United States maintained diplomatic relations with Britain at the rank of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary. The rank was colloquially known as Minister, and the position continued to be referred to as "United States Minister to Great Britain".

Name	Portrait	Appointment	Presentation	Termination	Appointer		Notes
John Quincy Adams		April 28, 1814	June 8, 1815	May 14, 1817		James Madison	Sixth president of the United States
Richard Rush		1817	February 12, 1818	April 27, 1825		James Monroe
Rufus King		May 5, 1825	November 11, 1825	June 16, 1826		John Quincy Adams
Albert Gallatin		May 10, 1826	September 1, 1826	October 4, 1827
William Beach Lawrence		Nov 23, 1827		November 24, 1828
James Barbour		May 23, 1828	November 24, 1828	October 1, 1829
Louis McLane		1829	October 12, 1829	June 13, 1831		Andrew Jackson
Martin Van Buren		August 8, 1831	September 21, 1831	March 19, 1832			Eighth president of the United States
Aaron Vail		July 13, 1832		July 13, 1836
Andrew Stevenson		March 16, 1836	July 13, 1836	October 21, 1841
Edward Everett		1841	December 16, 1841	August 8, 1845		John Tyler
Louis McLane		1845	August 8, 1845	August 18, 1846		James K. Polk
George Bancroft		September 9, 1846	November 12, 1846	August 31, 1849
Abbott Lawrence		August 20, 1849	October 20, 1849	October 12, 1852		Zachary Taylor
Joseph R. Ingersoll		August 21, 1852	October 16, 1852	August 23, 1853		Millard Fillmore
James Buchanan		April 11, 1853	August 23, 1853	March 15, 1856		Franklin Pierce	Fifteenth president of the United States
George M. Dallas		February 4, 1856	April 4, 1856	May 16, 1861
Charles Francis Adams Sr.		March 20, 1861	May 16, 1861	May 13, 1868		Abraham Lincoln
Reverdy Johnson		June 12, 1868	September 14, 1868	May 13, 1869		Andrew Johnson
John Lothrop Motley		April 13, 1869	June 18, 1869	December 6, 1870		Ulysses S. Grant
Robert C. Schenck		December 22, 1870	June 23, 1871	March 3, 1876
Edwards Pierrepont		May 22, 1876	July 11, 1876	December 22, 1877
John Welsh		November 9, 1877	December 22, 1877	August 14, 1879		Rutherford B. Hayes
James Russell Lowell		January 26, 1880	March 11, 1880	May 19, 1885
Edward John Phelps		March 23, 1885	May 19, 1885	January 31, 1889		Grover Cleveland
Robert Todd Lincoln		March 30, 1889	May 25, 1889	May 4, 1893		Benjamin Harrison

Ambassadors (1893–present)

Although France became a republic in 1870, the country continued to exchange ambassadors with other Great Powers. In 1893, the United States followed the French precedent and upgraded its relations with other Great Powers to the ambassadorial level. The United States Legation in London became the United States Embassy, and the United States Minister to Great Britain became the United States Ambassador to Great Britain.

Name	Portrait	Appointment	Presentation	Termination	Appointer		Notes
Thomas F. Bayard		1893	June 22, 1893	March 17, 1897		Grover Cleveland
John Hay		1897	May 3, 1897	September 12, 1898		William McKinley
Joseph Hodges Choate		January 19, 1899	March 6, 1899	May 23, 1905
Whitelaw Reid		March 8, 1905	June 5, 1905	December 15, 1912		Theodore Roosevelt	†
Walter Hines Page		April 21, 1913	May 30, 1913	October 3, 1918		Woodrow Wilson
John W. Davis		November 21, 1918	December 18, 1918	March 9, 1921
George Brinton McClellan Harvey		April 16, 1921	May 12, 1921	November 3, 1923		Warren G. Harding
Frank B. Kellogg		1924	January 14, 1924	February 10, 1925		Calvin Coolidge
Alanson B. Houghton		February 24, 1925	April 27, 1925	March 28, 1929
Charles G. Dawes		April 16, 1929	June 15, 1929	December 30, 1931		Herbert Hoover
Andrew W. Mellon		February 5, 1932	April 9, 1932	March 17, 1933
Robert Worth Bingham		March 23, 1933	May 23, 1933	November 19, 1937		Franklin D. Roosevelt
Joseph P. Kennedy		January 17, 1938	March 8, 1938	October 22, 1940
John G. Winant		February 11, 1941	March 1, 1941	April 10, 1946
W. Averell Harriman		April 2, 1946	April 30, 1946	October 1, 1946		Harry S. Truman
Lewis W. Douglas		March 6, 1947	March 25, 1947	November 16, 1950
Walter S. Gifford		December 12, 1950	December 21, 1950	January 23, 1953
Winthrop W. Aldrich		February 2, 1953	February 20, 1953	February 1, 1957		Dwight D. Eisenhower
John Hay Whitney		February 11, 1957	February 28, 1957	January 14, 1961
David K. E. Bruce		February 22, 1961	March 17, 1961	March 20, 1969		John F. Kennedy
Walter Annenberg		March 14, 1969	April 29, 1969	October 30, 1974		Richard Nixon
Elliot Richardson		February 20, 1975	March 21, 1975	January 16, 1976		Gerald Ford
Anne Armstrong		January 29, 1976	March 17, 1976	March 3, 1977
Kingman Brewster, Jr.		April 29, 1977	June 3, 1977	February 23, 1981		Jimmy Carter
John J. Louis, Jr.		May 7, 1981	May 27, 1981	November 7, 1983		Ronald Reagan
Charles H. Price II		November 11, 1983	December 20, 1983	February 28, 1989
Henry E. Catto, Jr.		April 14, 1989	May 17, 1989	March 13, 1991		George H. W. Bush
Raymond G. H. Seitz		April 25, 1991	June 25, 1991	May 10, 1994
William J. Crowe, Jr.		May 13, 1994	June 2, 1994	September 20, 1997		Bill Clinton
Philip Lader		August 1, 1997	September 22, 1997	February 28, 2001
William S. Farish III		July 12, 2001	August 1, 2001	June 11, 2004		George W. Bush
Robert H. Tuttle		July 9, 2005	October 19, 2005	February 6, 2009
Louis Susman		July 13, 2009	October 13, 2009	April 3, 2013		Barack Obama
Matthew Barzun		August 6, 2013	December 4, 2013	January 18, 2017
Lewis Lukens		January 18, 2017	January 18, 2017	November 8, 2017		Donald Trump	Chargé d'Affaires
Woody Johnson		August 3, 2017	November 8, 2017	January 20, 2021
Yael Lempert		January 20, 2021	January 20, 2021	August 1, 2021		Joe Biden	Chargé d'Affaires
Philip Reeker		July 15, 2021	August 1, 2021	July 19, 2022			Chargé d'Affaires
Jane D. Hartley		May 25, 2022	July 19, 2022	January 20, 2025
		January 20, 2025				Donald Trump	Chargé d'Affaires

See also

• Ambassadors of the United States
• Embassy of the United Kingdom, Washington, D.C.
• Foreign relations of the United Kingdom
• List of ambassadors of the United Kingdom to the United States
• United Kingdom–United States relations

Notes

1. John Adams became so frustrated with his cool reception at the court that he closed the legation in 1788 and the post remained vacant for four years.
2. From 1811 to the outbreak of the War of 1812, chargé d'affaires Johnathan Russell was the chief United States officer in London. The United States severed relations with the United Kingdom on the outbreak of the War of 1812; normal relations were restored in 1815.
3. Chargé d'affaires
4. Lewis Lukens became the chargé d'affaires.

References

1. "Ambassador's Residence - Winfield House". uk.usembassy.gov. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
2. "Recent Ambassadors to the United Kingdom". uk.usembassy.gov. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
3. "Ambassador Jane Hartley presents her credentials to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II". U.S. Embassy & Consulates in the United Kingdom. July 20, 2022. Archived from the original on August 3, 2022. Retrieved August 3, 2022.
4. Collier, Peter; Horowitz, David (2002). The Kennedys: An American Drama. p. 6.
5. Farrell, Henry (November 28, 2019). "U.S. ambassadorships are destination tourism for the mega-rich". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
6. "John Adams - U.S. Presidents - HISTORY.com". HISTORY.com. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
7. "Eyewitness". www.archives.gov. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
8. "Definition of "Plenipotentiary"". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
9. "United Kingdom". Diplomatic History of the United States. US Department of State. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
10. House Documents, Otherwise Publ. as Executive Documents: 13th Congress, 2d Session-49th Congress, 1st Session. United States Congress.
11. Officers and Graduates of Columbia College: Originally the College of the Province of New York Known as King's College. General Catalogue, 1754-1894. New York City: Columbia College. 1894.
12. Davis, Julie Hirschfeld (January 5, 2017). "In Break With Precedent, Obama Envoys Are Denied Extensions Past Inauguration Day". The New York Times.
13. "Biography of Ambassador Matthew W. Barzun". U.S. Embassy & Consulates in the United Kingdom. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
14. Borger, Julian (January 19, 2017). "New York Jets owner Woody Johnson to be US ambassador to UK". The Guardian. Retrieved January 20, 2017.
15. "Biden selects Jane Hartley as ambassador to U.K. (July 16, 2021)". The Washington Post.
16. "Chargé d'Affaires, a.i., Matthew Palmer (n.d.)". U.S. Embassy. Retrieved March 21, 2025.

• United States Department of State: Background notes on the United Kingdom
•  This article incorporates public domain material from U.S. Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets. United States Department of State.

Further reading

• Holmes, Alison R.; Rofe, J. Simon (2012). The Embassy in Grosvenor Square: American Ambassadors to the United Kingdom, 1938–2008. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. doi:10.1057/9781137295576. ISBN 978-1-137-29557-6.

External links

• United States Department of State: Chiefs of Mission for the United Kingdom
• United States Department of State: United Kingdom
• United States Embassy in London