Senior Member - Catherine Royle
Catherine Royle joined NATO in January 2015 as Political Adviser to the Commander at Joint Force Command Brunssum after a long career as a British diplomat. She joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1986 following studies at the Universities of Oxford (BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics) and Wales (MscEcon in Strategic Studies).
After an initial stint in London, Catherine’s first post was in Chile as it transitioned from dictatorship to democracy. She returned to the UK at the end of 1991 where she worked on various aspects of UK policy in Iraq until 1997. Catherine then served in Dublin as First Secretary for EU and Economic Affairs. From 2001-2003 she served as Head of the Policy Unit on the Convention for the Future of Europe. She acted as policy advisor to Peter Hain – the UK’s ministerial representative at the Convention on the Future of Europe – during the drafting of the proposed European Constitution (which later became the Lisbon Treaty).
Board of Excellencies
Our diplomatic network consists of prestigious individuals known as the Board of Excellencies. We invite distinguished presidents, ambassadors, scholars, high-level government officials, practitioners, public servants, and more to become a member of our Board of Excellencies.
Yolanda Kemp Spies is an alumna of the Oxford University Diplomatic Studies Programme, which she now directs. She served as a South African diplomat for 18 years before entering academia in 2005. Her doctoral research on diplomatic training for developing countries led to the creation of a customised Master of Diplomatic Studies at the University of Pretoria, which she directed until 2016.
She has since taught diplomacy at several institutions, including Webster University in Ghana and Zayed University in the UAE. Since 2016, she has been a Senior Research Fellow with the SARCHI Chair in African Diplomacy and Foreign Policy at the University of Johannesburg, and in 2020, she was appointed a Senior Fellow at the Geneva-based DiploFoundation.
Her research spans diplomacy, foreign policy, international organisations, international law, conflict resolution, global power dynamics, African politics, and the ethics of international relations. She is the author of two books published in 2019: Global Diplomacy and International Society and Global South Perspectives on Diplomacy.
Thomas Stuart Francis Fletcher CMG
Under-Secretary-General for UN OCHA, formerly a UK Ambassador, author and Principal of Hertford College (2020-24).
Tom Fletcher was the Principal of Hertford College, Oxford. He was previously the foreign policy adviser to three UK Prime Ministers (2007-11) and the UK’s Ambassador to Lebanon (2011-15). More recently, he has been a Visiting Professor at New York University, and chaired the International Advisory Council of the Creative Industries Federation, promoting Britain’s most dynamic and magnetic sector overseas. In 2018 he founded The Foundation for Opportunity.
Tom led a review of British diplomacy for the UK Foreign Office in 2016…
Rawan Al Faqir
Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in London
Rawan Al Faqir is currently Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in London (since June 2025). She has also served as the Alternate Representative of Jordan to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) since August 2021, and was First Secretary at the Embassy between 2021 and 2025. Also, she served as President of Young Diplomats in London from 2022 to 2025.
She has served in various capacities within the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including as Desk Officer for the USA in the North American Department and in the office of the Ministry Spokesperson. Her professional experience offers a rich perspective on Jordan’s international engagements and the realities of modern diplomacy. Ms. Al-Faqir is a Chevening Scholar, FCDO Fellow, and holds an MSt in Diplomatic Studies from the University of Oxford (2020).
Caecilia van Peski
Commander in the Royal Netherlands Navy & academic lecturer
Van Peski is a Commander in the Royal Netherlands Navy, Military Veteran and an authority in the field of Security & Defence, Civil-Military Interaction, Democratisation & Elections and Justice & Equality whose achievements have received national and international recognition. Recipient of the ‘Ambassador for Peace’ Award granted by the Universal Peace Federation (2010), she is regarded as being among the most influential women of her generation in the Netherlands – listed as one of the ‘Viva’ top 400 (2009) and among the top 100 of ‘Opzij’ (2010).
She was appointed UN Special Representative for her country, addressing the 65th United Nations General Assembly in New York with her statement ‘Deepening Democracy’…
“It is vital our board reflects diplomacy today. We strive to have a board that represents every continent, has an even balance of men and women and limits ageism.”