Sir Francis Richards KCMG CVO

Former Army officer and diplomat Francis Richards succeeded Kevin Tebbit as Director GCHQ in July 1998 and would serve in the role for five years. Richards was born on the 18th November 1945 and educated at Eton College and the University of Cambridge, before joining the Royal Green Jackets. He was injured in a car crash two years into his military career and was subsequently medically discharged. Richards then went into the Diplomatic Service, serving at British missions in Moscow, New Delhi and at Windhoek in Namibia where he was its first British High Commissioner after independence in 1990.

He was Director of GCHQ from 1998 to 2003, serving under the first government of Tony Blair and recalled his time as ‘the best job I have ever had or ever expect to have.’ During his tenure GCHQ would support military operations in the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq.

He was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Gibraltar from 2003 to 2006, and was chairman of the trustees of Bletchley Park from 2006 to 2011. Richards was also a Trustee of the Imperial War Museum (IWM) from April 2007, going onto become its Deputy Chair in December 2009 and became its Chairman of the Board of Trustees from December 2011.