Alice Walpole


The Honourable Alice Louise Walpole,, is the Director of Goodenough College, a residential community of international postgraduate students in Bloomsbury, London. As a former British diplomat and United Nations official, she served from 2017 to 2021, as an Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and Deputy Special Representative for Political Affairs and Electoral Assistance in the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq. Prior to her UN role, she spent over 30 years in the British Diplomatic Service, including appointments as List of ambassadors of [the United Kingdom to Luxembourg|British Ambassador to Luxembourg], Mali and (non-resident) Niger.

Career

Walpole was educated at Norwich High School for Girls and New Hall, Cambridge.
She joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1985. Following a posting as HM Consul-General in Basra, Iraq, she became British Ambassador to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in July 2011. In 2016 she became Ambassador to the Republic of Mali and non-resident Ambassador to the Republic of Niger. In November 2017 United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced the appointment of Alice Walpole as the new Deputy Special Representative for Political Affairs and Electoral Assistance of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq. She held this post until March 2021.
She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to British Diplomacy.
Walpole was appointed Director of Goodenough College in April 2021.
She was awarded the Freedom of the City of London in 2024.
Walpole is a Member of the Council of Arts and Sciences, the board of the Royal Albert Hall.

Personal life

Walpole is a daughter of Robert Walpole, 10th Baron Walpole, and his first wife, Judith Chaplin, and a descendant of Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole, a younger brother of Sir Robert Walpole, the first British Prime Minister. Her ancestors include Sir Robert Walpole's father Colonel Robert Walpole. The brother, Thomas, of her great-grandfather Horatio was the cycling partner of Lionel Martin, of Aston Martin.
In 1990, she married Dr Angel Carro Castrillo, with whom she has six children. They divorced in 2010, having separated in 2002.