Sir John Graham, 4th Baronet

Sir John Alexander Noble Graham, 4th Baronet GCMG (born 15 July 1926) is a retired British diplomat who was ambassador to Iraq, Iran and NATO.

Career

Graham, the only son of Sir Reginald Graham, 3rd Baronet, was at school at Eton College, served in the Grenadier Guards 1944–47^[1] and then went with a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge 1948–50. On leaving Cambridge he joined the Diplomatic Service and studied at the Middle East Centre for Arabic Studies before being posted to Bahrain in 1951, Kuwait in 1952 and Amman in 1953. He was Assistant Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs 1954–57 and then served at Belgrade 1957–60, Benghazi 1960–61, the Foreign Office 1961–66 and Kuwait 1966–69.

He was Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 1969–72, serving Michael Stewart and Sir Alec Douglas-Home. He was then posted as Counsellor (later Minister) and Head of Chancery at Washington 1972–74; Ambassador to Iraq 1974–77;^[2] deputy Under-Secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) 1977–79; Ambassador to Iran 1979–80;^[3] deputy Under-Secretary again 1980–82; and finally Ambassador and Permanent Representative to NATO in Brussels 1982–86.

After retiring from the Diplomatic Service in 1986, Sir John was Registrar of the Order of St Michael and St George 1987–2001^[4] and was also Director of the Ditchley Foundation 1987–92.^{[citation needed]}

John Graham was appointed CMG in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 1972,^[5] knighted KCMG in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 1979 on his appointment to Iran^[6] and promoted GCMG in the New Year Honours of 1986.^[7] He succeeded to the baronetcy on the death of his father in 1980.

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Donald Maitland	Principal Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary 1969–1972	Succeeded by Antony Acland
Preceded by break in diplomatic relations	Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Iraq 1974–1977	Succeeded by Alexander Stirling
Preceded by Sir Anthony Parsons	Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at Tehran 1979–1980	Succeeded by break in diplomatic relations
Preceded by Sir Clive Rose	UK Permanent Representative on the North Atlantic Council 1982–1986	Succeeded by Sir Michael Alexander
Baronetage of Great Britain
Preceded by John Reginald Noble Graham	Baronet of Larbert House and Househill 1980–present	Succeeded by incumbent

GRAHAM, Sir John (Alexander Noble), Who's Who 2012, A & C Black, 2012; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2011, accessed 21 Aug 2012
Sir John Alexander Noble Graham, 4th Bt. – thepeerage.com