Visit by a representative of the Queen of England
January 14, 2004
Peter Harris provided an excellent discussion of the various roles filled by the diplomat corps of which he is a member. The ambassador is officially appointed by the government and is the personal representative of the State or the Head of State such as the Queen.
One of the common perceptions is that the ambassador and corps engage in networking at entertainment events, national holidays, or when heads of state visit. They serve a representational role and give speeches and talks promoting their country’s interests and culture. Another role is a chancery one in which they provide redress for citizens and serve a political role by promoting their home foreign policy position. They report on what is going on in the country they are visiting. They serve a public affairs role speaking to groups including student groups and a commercial role by promoting trade, doing market sector analysis, and participating in trade fairs. They are a point of contact for their armed forces.
Of course, they perform a consular role by assisting with passports, visas and immigration policy. One of the areas of extreme need is during a major catastrophe in which they assist they countrymen. One of the hardest duties for him has been to notify the next of kin of the death of a loved one who had traveled abroad.
The club presented them with a Attica-Williamsport Rotary sun catcher designed by Randy at the Treasure Chest.
It was certainly a treat to visit with Peter and Judy.
When you read the Bio below you will notice that Peter had a three year teaching assignment at the Technical University of Santander in Bucaramanga, Colombia and met Judy.
For those of you who do not know, Judy is the Sister of our own Martha Geyer.
Below is a Bio of Peter Harris
Bio details
Peter Harris Born 1950
Peter joined Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service after enjoying a gloriously brief but deeply satisfying academic career of quite outstanding obscurity at Oxford and London Universities, where he contrived to reinforce most people's prejudices about the value or utility of pure research. On the strength of his indigestible and deeply unfashionable research into ironology Peter has long claimed to be the United Kingdom's leading student of the theory of multiple truth-valency functions. He is still a little baffled as to why no challenger has ever stepped up to dispute this claim.
During a three year teaching assignment at the Technical University of Santander in Bucaramanga, Colombia, Peter met and wooed the town philosopher, Judy, the only woman within five hundred miles to own a complete set of the collected works of the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. Wooing Judy did little to advance Peter's research, but was nevertheless extremely enjoyable. Four sons later, Peter remains smitten. He never did manage to finish reading all of the Kierkegaard, though.
During Peter's career as a British Diplomat, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office's personnel department has not always heeded his oft-expressed preference for safe and comfortable postings to the flesh-pots in temperate climes, but he has held a number of fascinating jobs. He has had a number of overseas postings and has worked in British Embassies in Portugal, the Soviet Union, Chile, and Warsaw. He has served as acting British Ambassador on a number of occasions and has opened exhibitions and awarded prizes on several continents. Now part of the Diplomatic Service's senior management structure, Peter is currently working in London and enjoying himself hugely at the expense of Her Majesty's long-suffering but loyal taxpayers.
Peter has been called upon to face danger unflinchingly on a number of occasions in the course of his diplomatic career. He once narrowly escaped violence at the hands of an irate rampaging mob when a Soviet State Liquor Shop ran out of vodka, and at the height of the Second Gulf War he inadvertently locked the cipher safe without realising that he had shut his tie in the door.
Peter prides himself on being a bit of a polymath. Among his many other accomplishments, Peter is very good at spelling and knows how to bear a decent grudge. He also knows his single malt whiskies and can read menus in over a dozen languages. He is sure that he has many more accomplishments than this, but his memory has become so impaired that he can no longer remember them.
Peter and Judy live in the Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames, the old capital of the Saxon Kingdom of Wessex, not far from Henry VIII's palace of Hampton Court.