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Gaitri Issar Kumar takes over as Indian high commissioner to the UK
The ceremonial event at Buckingham Palace when Kumar will present credentials to Queen Elizabeth is expected later in the year due to restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic. The queen has been in the Windsor Castle since March.
Gaitri Issar Kumar of the 1986 batch of the Indian Foreign Service has taken over as India’s high commissioner to the United Kingdom – the third woman envoy in the key post since independence, after Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit and Ruchi Ghanashyam.
Soon after taking over, Kumar held virtual meetings with Tariq Ahmad, minister in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Richard Moore, FCO political director, and leading members of the Indian community such as industrialist Swraj Paul and Raj Loomba, the mission said on Saturday.
Paul tweeted: “India has a great foreign service & very bright women diplomats starting from Mrs Pandit & have had the pleasure of knowing few. Said goodbye to Ruchi Ghanashyam & welcome Gaitri Kumar. Wish you a great stay, you will enjoy this assignment”.
Pandit was the high commissioner from 1954 to 1961, while Ghanshayam, who retired in May after a tenure in London she described as a ‘roller-coaster ride”, took over in December 2018. Kumar was the Indian ambassador to Belgium, the EU and Luxembourg before joining in London.
Kumar takes over at a time when the Boris Johnson government currently dealing with the pandemic will soon focus more on Brexit-related issues as the end of the transition period on December 31 draws near. More trade with India in the post-Brexit UK has been a key aim.
The ceremonial event at Buckingham Palace when Kumar will present credentials to Queen Elizabeth is expected later in the year due to restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic. The queen has been in the Windsor Castle since March.
The event with a royal touch involves new envoys being collected from their residence or high commission/embassy in a state landau (horse-drawn carriage), and travelling through the streets of London led by a second carriage in which the marshal of the diplomatic corps travels.
Diplomatic audiences with the queen have barely changed since Victorian times. There are more than 170 ambassadors and high commissioners based in London at any given time. Each has an audience with the queen shortly after taking up his or her role.
