Victoria Treadell

Victoria Marguerite Treadell, CMG, MVO (born 4 November 1959) is the current High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to Australia and has been in the posting since April 2019. She is the former High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to Malaysia, High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to New Zealand and Samoa, and Governor of the Pitcairn Islands.

Her Excellency Victoria Treadell CMG MVO
High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to Australia
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 March 2019
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Theresa May Boris Johnson
Preceded by	Menna Rawlings
High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to Malaysia
In office October 2014 – March 2019
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	David Cameron Theresa May
Preceded by	Simon Featherstone
Succeeded by	Charles Hay
Governor of Pitcairn
In office 3 June 2010 – July 2014
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	George Fergusson
Succeeded by	Jonathan Sinclair
High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to New Zealand and Samoa
In office May 2010 – March 2014
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	George Fergusson
Succeeded by	Jonathan Sinclair
Personal details
Born	Victoria Marguerite Jansz 4 November 1959 Ipoh, Perak, Federation of Malaya
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	Alan Treadell
Occupation	Diplomat

Early life and education

She was born on 4 November 1959 in Ipoh, Perak, Malaya (now Malaysia) to a Cantonese mother and a father of French-Dutch ancestry.[1]

Diplomatic career

Treadell joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1978.[2] Before her posting to New Zealand, she had held postings in Pakistan, India and Malaysia.[3]

From 2010 to 2014, she served as High Commissioner to New Zealand and Governor of Pitcairn.[4] She is the first woman who served as British High Commissioner to New Zealand.[5] From October 2014 to 2019, she served as High Commissioner to Malaysia.[6]

On 12 February 2019, Treadell was announced as the next British High Commissioner to Australia, in succession to Menna Rawlings, taking up the post in March 2019.[7]

In early February 2020, Treadell took the "unprecedented"[8] step of giving two elected officials from the Parliament of Australia a "dressing down"[8] though Treadell herself is herself an unelected official from a foreign nation. The letter, showed "stern"[9] disapproval for how Australia had revealed its security concerns over the UK's invitation to Huawei into its 5G network, which had been expressed both to her, and her Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, in a private briefing.

Personal life

In 1985, the then Victoria Jansz married Alan Treadell.[2]

In addition, due to her interest in culture and arts, she has been one of the patrons of the Singapore-based British Theatre Playhouse since 2014, with regard to the plays that are produced in Malaysia.[10]

Honours

She was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO) in 1989 following a visit by Elizabeth II to Malaysia.[11] In the 2010 Queen's Birthday Honours, she was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG).[12]

References

1. TREADELL, Victoria Marguerite, Who's Who 2014, A & C Black, 2014; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2013
2. "Treadell, Victoria Marguerite". Who's Who 2019. Oxford University Press. 1 December 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
3. "Foreign Office Press Release 10 September 2009". Archived from the original on 19 October 2009. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
4. "Our High Commissioner". British High Commission, Wellington. Archived from the original on 15 November 2010.
5. "First Female British High Commissioner To NZ Named". guide2.co.nz (New Zealand Press Association). 11 September 2009. Retrieved 24 June 2010.
6. Change of High Commissioner to Malaysia, Foreign & Commonwealth Office, 25 June 2014
7. "Change of British High Commissioner to Australia: March 2019". GOV.UK. Foreign and Commonwealth Office. 12 February 2019. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
8. Bourke, Latika (15 February 2020). "Parliamentary trip to UK cancelled after High Commissioner pens angry letter over Huawei leak". Brisbane Times. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
9. Correspondent, Defence; Greene, rew (15 February 2020). "Leaked Huawei discussions prompt British diplomatic rebuke of Australian politicians". ABC News. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
10. "British Theatre Playhouse - Patrons - Professional theatre production company incorporated in Singapore in 2004 but is internationally focused with a strong British connection - SISTIC". Retrieved 23 March 2017.
11. "No. 51932". The London Gazette. 10 November 1989. p. 12995.
12. "No. 59446". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 2010. p. 3. corrected in "No. 59612". The London Gazette. 23 November 2010. p. 22521.