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. n
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