Deans of the Diplomatic Corps: 1893 To Present

Office of the Chief of Protocol
November 14, 2007

The Dean or doyen is the senior diplomatic representative of the diplomatic corps who has served the longest in the United States. Seniority depends on the date of arrival in the capital coupled with the official presentation of credentials. The duties are chiefly ceremonial in nature.

Below are relevant excerpts from the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and Optional Protocol on Disputes:

Article 13
1. The head of the mission is considered as having taken up his functions in the receiving State either when he has presented his credentials or when he has notified his arrival and a true copy of his credentials has been presented to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the receiving State, or such other ministry as may be agreed, in accordance with the practice prevailing in the receiving State which shall be applied in a uniform manner.
2. The order of presentation of credentials or of a true copy thereof will be determined by the date and time of the arrival of the head of the mission.

Article 16
1. Heads of mission shall take precedence in their respective classes in the order of the date and time of taking up their functions in accordance with article 13.
2. Alterations in the credentials of a head of mission not involving any change of class shall not affect his precedence.
3. This article is without prejudice to any practice accepted by the receiving State regarding the precedence of the representative of the Holy See.

Deans of the Diplomatic Corps

Roble Olhaye, Ambassador of the Republic of Djibouti
September 9, 2005 - Present

HRH Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, Ambassador of Saudi Arabia
September 4, 1993 - September 8, 2005

Paul Pondi, Ambassador of Cameroon
January 13, 1993 - September 3, 1993

Shaikh Saud Nasir Al-Sabah, Ambassador of Kuwait
January 8, 1992 - January 12, 1993

Abdellah Ould Daddah, Ambassador of Mauritania
February 8, 1991 - January 7, 1992

Jose Luis Fernandes Lopes, Ambassador of Cape Verde
July 11, 1989 - February 7, 1991

Andrew J. Jacovides, Ambassador of Cyprus
June 1, 1989 - July 10, 1989

Count Wilhelm Wachtmeister, Ambassador of Sweden
April 12, 1986 - May 31, 1989

Anatoliy F. Dobrynin, Ambassador of the Soviet Union
July 17, 1979 - April 11, 1986

Dr. Guillermo Sevilla-Sacasa, Ambassador of Nicaragua
January 1958 - July 16, 1979

Wilhelm Munthe de Morgenstierne, Ambassador of Norway
September 1947 - December 1957

Carlos Martins, Ambassador of Brazil
November 1945 - August 1947

Dr. Don Francisco Castillo Majera, Ambassador of Mexico
February 1945 - October 1945

Count Robert van der Straten-Ponthaz, Ambassador of Belgium
December 1944 - January 1945

Mehmet Munir Ertegun, Ambassador of Turkey
May 1944 - November 1944

Sr. Don Manuel de Freyre y Santander, Ambassador of Peru
September 1939 - April 1944

Sir Ronald Lindsay, P.C., G.C.M.G., K.C.B., C.V.O., Ambassador of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland
July 1934 - August 1939

Ahmet Muhtar, Ambassador of Turkey
May 1933 - June 1934

Paul Caludel, Ambassador of France
February 1933 - April 1933

Nobile Giacomo de Martino, Ambassador of Italy
November 1931 - January 1933

Sr. Don Manuel C. Tellez, Ambassador of Mexico
August 1930 - October 1931

Dr. Heran Velarde, Ambassador of Peru
March 1930 - July 1930

Sir Esme Howard, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., C.V.O., Ambassador of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland
November 1927 - February 1930

Baron de Cartier de Marchienne, Ambassador of Belgium
September 1926 - October 1927

Sr. Don Juan Riano y Gayanos, Ambassador of Spain
February 1925 - August 1926

J. Jusserand, Ambassador of France
May 1913 - January 1925

Baron Hengelmüller von Hengervár, Ambassador of Austria-Hungary
April 1910 - April 1913

Baron Edmondo Mayor des Planches, Ambassador of Italy
August 1905 - March 2010

Comte Cassini, Master of the Imperial Court, Ambassador of Russia
May 1903 - July 1905

Herr von Holleben, Ambassador of Germany
June 1902 - April 1903

Sir Julian Pauncefote, Ambassador of Great Britain
April 1893 - May 1902