The UK Foreign and Commonwealth has announced that we’ll be seeing a changing of the guards in the form of a new Governor.
Peter Beckingham who has been in the Turks & Caicos, as Governor for the last 3 years will hand over the reigns to Dr John Freeman, CMG, who has been appointed as the next Governor.
Mr. Beckingham will be retiring from the Diplomatic Service when he leaves TCI in October. Dr Freeman will take up his appointment during October 2016.
Dr. Freeman has been in the service since 1977 in various appointments within the Ministry of Defense, in 1983 through to 1986 he was a Member of the UK Delegation to Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe meetings in Helsinki and Stockholm (at the Conference on Disarmament in Europe). Between 1986-1989 he served the FCO as Head of South Africa Section. Dr. Freeman was the Senate Liaison, to the British Military Government in Berlin, and subsequently Head of the Political Section in the Berlin Office of the British Embassy in Germany.
The new appointee also spent 3 years from 1991 as FCO,
Deputy Head of the Eastern (later Central) European Department, and, secondly, as Head of the Security Co-ordination Department. While servicing the FCO, Freeman was Her Majesty’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN agencies in Vienna. His resume also boasts the role as Her Majesty’s Ambassador for Multilateral Arms Control [from 2005] and Her Majesty’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN Conference on Disarmament [from 2004], Geneva among other notable achievements in serving the crown.
Commenting on the announcement, the Governor, Peter Beckingham, said “Jill and I will be sad to leave the Turks and Caicos.
We have had three very happy years here, the work has been stimulating and everyone was most welcoming.
Our two daughters and our new grandchildren have also loved visiting. I hope we can see many friends, colleagues and business contacts before we leave in October; Jill is planning another Footsteps4Good in September, so that will be a great opportunity to catch up with lots of people across the Family islands.”
The incoming Governor is married with 2 children and will be leaving Buenos Aires, as Her Majesty’s Ambassador to serve as Governor in the Turks & Caicos Islands.
