The Government has announced the appointment of the new British ambassador to the Holy See. Nigel Baker OBE is to be the Queen’s Ambassador to the Holy See and will take up the appointment in August. The career diplomat follows in the footsteps of Francis Campbell, the first Catholic ambassador to the Holy See. Having joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1989, Mr Baker served in Central Europe and Latin America, most recently as ambassador to Bolivia. The diplomat also worked for the Prince of Wales for three years and took an academic sabbatical living in Italy in the late 1990s. Mr Baker said: “I am delighted and honoured to be taking up this posting. The last few years have seen the development of a strong and fruitful global partnership between the United Kingdom and the Holy See. The historic visit of Pope Benedict XVI in September 2010 reinforced that relationship and opened new avenues for bilateral and multilateral collaboration. I look forward to the challenge of deepening our engagement across the many issues on which we work together”.