The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) on 13 January 2025 the appointment of Joanne Elizabeth Olivier as the United Kingdom’s ambassador to the grand duchy of Luxembourg, effective from April 2025. She will succeed , who has held the position since 21 April 2021.

Olivier brings a wealth of experience from a distinguished career in the FCDO and other prominent roles, the announcement said. Since 2022, she has served as deputy head of the Mediterranean department at the FCDO. Prior to this, she was posted as first secretary (justice and home affairs) in Paris from 2019 to 2022. She also underwent pre-posting training, which included French language courses, between 2018 and 2019.

Her career within the foreign and commonwealth office includes significant positions, such as head of the Ukraine Team in the eastern Europe and central Asia directorate from 2016 to 2018 and Middle East policy planner in the strategy directorate from 2014 to 2016.

From 2011 to 2014, Olivier was stationed in Pretoria, where she served as consul for South Africa and consular regional operations manager for Southern Africa. Earlier in her career, she worked in the FCDO’s defence and strategic threats directorate, specialising in counter terrorism, from 2009 to 2011.

Olivier’s professional background also includes time as an attorney with Bergstan International in Gaborone, Botswana, between 2005 and 2009. Additionally, she worked at the FCDO’s Europe directorate, with a focus on Gibraltar, from 2001 to 2002, and was a barrister at the chambers of David Barnard, London, from 1994 to 2001.

Olivier is set to assume her new diplomatic responsibilities in Luxembourg following the presentation of her credentials to Grand Duke Henri.