Patrick Wright, Baron Wright of Richmond

Patrick Richard Henry Wright, Baron Wright of Richmond GCMG (born 28 June 1931) is a retired British diplomat and former Head of HM Diplomatic Service.

Patrick Wright is the son of Herbert and Rachel Wright. He was educated at Marlborough College. Having served in the Royal Artillery in 1950 and 1951, he went up to Merton College, Oxford where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in literae humaniores in 1955.

He joined HM Diplomatic Service in 1955 and went to study Arabic at MECAS in the Lebanon from 1956 to 1957. He was posted as Second Secretary in the British Embassy in Beirut from 1958 to 1960. Between 1960 and 1965, he was Private Secretary to the Ambassador and First Secretary in the Washington DC Embassy, between 1965 and 1967 Private Secretary to the FCO's Permanent Under-Secretary of State (PUS) and First Secretary and Head of Chancery in the British Embassy in Cairo between 1967 and 1970. Wright was Deputy Political Resident in Bahrain in 1971 and 1972, Head of Middle East Department in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 1972 to 1974, and Private Secretary (Overseas Affairs) to two Prime Ministers, Harold Wilson and James Callaghan from 1974 to 1977. In 1977, Patrick Wright was appointed Ambassador to Luxembourg and to Syria in 1979, where he remained until 1981. He was Deputy Under-Secretary of State at the FCO from 1982 to 1984.