Portal:Gibraltar/Selected biography/11

Sir Francis Richards, KCMG, CVO, DL (born 1945), was Her Majesty's Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Gibraltar from 2003 to 2006. He was previously Director of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Cheltenham from 1998 to April 2003 when he was replaced by Sir David Pepper.

Richards' father, Sir Brooks Richards, served in Gibraltar with the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War. Educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, Richards was commissioned into the Royal Green Jackets, serving with the United Nations Force in Cyprus. After Richards' army career was cut short by injury, he entered Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service, serving in Moscow, Vienna, New Delhi and Namibia and holding a number of senior posts at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. (more...)