British diplomat Tammy Sandhu MBE has made history after becoming the first woman from an ethnic minority background to serve as the UK’s ambassador to the Holy See.
The Leicester-born diplomat officially presented her credentials to Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican after taking up the post in August 2026.
Sandhu, who was born and raised in Leicester to Punjabi parents who came to Britain in the 1960s, said she was proud to represent the UK as a British Asian.
She takes on the role after more than 20 years with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), having joined the diplomatic service in 2005. Her career has taken her to Rabat, Brussels, San Francisco and Chennai, as well as postings in Iraq and Kenya.
As ambassador, Sandhu will lead the UK’s diplomatic engagement with the Holy See, which represents the Catholic Church and its estimated 1.4 billion followers worldwide. Her priorities will include peacebuilding, tackling climate change, addressing modern slavery, responsible governance of artificial intelligence, and efforts to end violence against women and girls.
She previously served as His Majesty’s Consul General in San Francisco, where she led UK-US engagement across California and the Pacific Northwest.
Over her career, Sandhu has worked across political and economic affairs, trade and investment, government communications, international human resources and crisis response. Her work has included responding to high-profile cases involving the kidnapping of British nationals overseas.
She has also been a strong advocate for diversity within the diplomatic service. In 2020, she became chair of the FCO’s Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Committee and later co-chaired the FCDO’s Race and Ethnicity Network.
Sandhu was awarded an MBE in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to diversity and inclusion.
She studied English Literature at the University of Warwick and holds an MSc in International Public Policy from University College London. She speaks Italian, French, Hindi and Punjabi.
Her appointment marks another step towards greater diversity in Britain’s senior diplomatic ranks. Recent FCDO figures show that women now make up more than a third of British heads of mission overseas, while 14% come from ethnic minority backgrounds.
