Barbara Woodward


Dame Barbara Janet Woodward is a British diplomat and China expert. She has served as the British Ambassador to China since February 2015, and is the first woman to hold this position.
Woodward undertook her undergraduate degree at the University of St Andrews, Scotland before going on to study International Relations at Yale University.
Woodward joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1994. She has worked in China, Russia, the EU, and at the UN. From 2003 to 2009, she worked in Beijing, first as a Political Counsellor, then across the whole UK-China relationship as Deputy Head of Mission, including during the Olympics. Prior to her current posting, Woodward was Director General for Economic & Consular Affairs.

Early years

Barbara Janet Woodward was born to Arthur Claude Woodward and Rosemary Monica Gabrielle Fenton in Gipping, Suffolk, United Kingdom on 29 May 1961. Woodwards's father served in World War II as an officer of the Suffolk Regiment, and won the Military Cross for gallantry. He was later elected Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors after the war. She was educated at Saint Felix School, a co-eduational, boarding independent school in Southwold, Suffolk.
Woodward was then admitted to St Andrew's University in Scotland in 1979 and read history. She graduated in 1983 with a Master of Arts degree. Woodward taught English, first at Nankai University, and then at Hubei University, in Wuhan, China between 1986 and 1988. She later learned and mastered Chinese. Her teacher in London, gave her the Chinese name Wu Baina. In 1988, she went on to Yale University in the United States to further her studies on international relations, and obtained a second MA degree.

Diplomatic career

In 2015, in a conversation with Lucy D'Orsi, HM Queen Elizabeth II said that Chinese officials "were very rude to the ambassador", during an event at Lancaster House, London.
Woodward will complete her tour in September 2020 when she will be succeeded as ambassador by Caroline Wilson.

Personal life

Her hobbies include sports, particularly competitive swimming and tennis. She is a member of the Otter Swimming Club in London and has previously served as its Honorary Secretary.

Awards

In 1999, Woodward was included in the 1999 New Year Honours List and made an Officer of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II when she was serving as the First Secretary to Moscow. In 2011, she was included in the 2011 Birthday Honours and made a Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George for services to UK-China relations. In 2016, she was included in the 2016 Birthday Honours and made a Dame Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George for services to UK-China relations.
Styles and Honours