MINING IN MEXICO S - ProMéxico

interview judith macgregor
Mexico Ticks All Boxes
For Ambassador
Judith Macgregor took up her post as the British Ambassador to Mexico in 2009. Since then she has been
busy in her taxing job, particuarly in promoting increased trade between the two countries. But she has
found time to enjoy all that Mexico has to offer and her hobbies have helped her feel right at home. She
took time out from her duties to tell Negocios of her hectic lifestyle.
By GRAEME STEWART
Don’t let her Scottish name fool you. Judith
Macgregor is as English a rose as you will ever
find, a real London girl.
But the British Ambassador to Mexico admits
that she has found a home from home in
the sunshine of Mexico City. The fact that her
hobbies include arts and crafts and archaeology,
so predominant in Mexican culure, has allowed
her to feel quite relaxed in the shadows
of Popo and Ixta, the two volcanoes overlooking
the nation’s capital.
The tall, elegant, fair haired diplomat is as
friendly and chatty as can be, a real delight to
converse with.
Wearing a fashionable navy blue pin
striped trouser suit, white shirt and a permanent
“twinkle in her eye, the mother of four
enthused about the delights of Mexico.
I find the Mexicans to be very friendly
people, very easy to get along with. And the
colours of Mexico are gorgeous! I have really
enjoyed living here since I arrived last year.
When I have the time, I like to get out to the
archaeological sites and there are so many to
choose from. They are fascinating places, especially
for me as archaeology is one of my passions.
I also like to indulge in cycling and embroidery,
so the arts and crafts to be found in
the pueblos are right up my street.”
Judith was born in Bermondsey, Southwark,
on the south bank of the River Thames in 1952,
in the days before mass immigration turned the
area into a cosmopolitan melting pot.
“I suppose I had quite an Enid Blyton upbringing”
she said, referring to the English
author of twee, middle class children’s books.
“And I attended a Church of England grammar
school in Central London. I had a very nice
childhood and I remember my friends and I
used to idolise two local boys –Tommy Steele,
a 1950s English pop star who went on to star in
Hollywood musicals and became an all round
family entertainer, and Roger Moore, the actor
who became James Bond.”
“I enjoy Mexico very much.
It ticks all the boxes for
me –history, archaeology,
arts and crafts. I intend to
continue enjoying all that
Mexico has to offer while I
am here.”
After grammar school, she went on to study
history at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University,
and graduated in 1974. Strangely, she spent
a year studying in Bucharest, Romania, before
beginning her diplomatic career in 1975.
She explained: “I had never thought about
Romania until a friend of mine, a musician,
said she was going to Budapest in Hungary for
a year. I thought that sounded good so I looked
at a map to see what was near Budapest and
saw Bucharest. I got a British Council scholarship
to study history there.”
“So I lived in Bucharest for a year under the
Communist regime. It was an experience but I
returned home the following year and applied
to the Foreign Office and basically worked
my way up from there. I soon found myself in
Yugoslavia then led by Tito, an amazing man.
Then I served in the Czech Republic, Poland
and Slovakia and met another diplomat called
John Macgregor, whom I married,” she recalls.
As well as being a diplomat her husband
is also a talented musician playing the organ,
piano and cello and Judith likes nothing better
than to listen to him play. Otherwise, she is an
opera buff and would love to attend a performance
of Wagner’s Ring Cycle.
Judith also cares deeply about women’s
Rights and is chair of the Foreign Office’s
Women’s Association.
“It is difficut for women to get ahead in
the Foreign Office, so we like to promote their
cases whenever we can. We do not have many
women in senior positions in the Foreign Office,”
she said.
As for her future in Mexico, she adds “I
enjoy Mexico very much. It ticks all the boxes
for me –history, archaeology, arts and crafts. I
intend to continue enjoying all that Mexico has
to offer while I am here.”
And with that, Her Britannic Majesty’s
Ambassador to Mexico is off to her next engagement.
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