Speaker Bio

Matthew Lodge has a BA (Hons) in Modern Languages (French and Russian) from the University of Birmingham. Matthew was an officer in the Royal Marines from 1986-1996. He joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1996. Matthew’s first posting was to the British Embassy in Athens. He also worked on the Balkans, served in Georgia and Armenia, and had postings to Paris and the UK Permanent Representation to the EU. He later served as Private Secretary to the Permanent Under Secretary and Head of the Diplomatic Service, Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy Baghdad, Head of the FCO’s Afghanistan Group, Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Finland, Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the State of Kuwait, and Minister at the British Embassy Paris, serving concurrently as Ambassador and Permanent Delegate to UNESCO. He was appointed Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic in August 2021. Matthew is married to Alexia and they have twin boys.