Foreign and Commonwealth Office and 10 Downing Street

Thanks to a friend of mine who works at London Metropolitan University, we were able to get a tour of the FCO (British equivalent of the State Department) today!  This diplomat had been stationed in Thailand, Finland, and various countries in the Middle East.  He was a research analyst with a specialty in the Carribean and Central America.  He told us about the history of the buildings that make up the foreign ministry and showed us through many of the rooms that have been beautifully refurbished in the last 30 years or so (much of it under Margaret Thatcher who wanted to impress foreign dignitaries who were visiting).  Apparently we were very lucky with our diplomatic guide because he actually allowed us to take pictures.  My friend from the Met said he and his students had never been allowed to take pictures before.

The Dunbar Courtyard was between several wings of the building and was a ceremonial space for the most part.  There were statues of various famous British military leaders and a few diplomats.  Those military leaders who led campaigns to subdue India were featured, but only on the upper levels of the room where their presence might not offend visitors from the subcontinent. 

I learned something new about period sculptures of generals and other dignitaries...apparently it was a "thing" in the 1800s (?) for these important figures to be captured in roman (ie toga) attire.  I had seen plenty of these in the past, but it had never dawned on me that they were Brits in the 1800s, not actual Romans. The one on the right is General Cornwallis.

The Locarno Room (named after the treaty signed there) had a huge conference table and the decor on the ceiling with seals of allied countries.

US seal in the triangular corner space.

We got to sit in a smaller conference room in chairs that actually had the seal of the East India Company on them dating back to the 1870s.

My  favorite part of the tour was a large painting of symbolic Britania surrounded by her allies.  On the left you can see the US (in a red white and blue robe), and Japan (dressed as a geisa).  On the right are Canada with a loin cloth of maple leaves, Russia, South Africa, India.  Very nationalistic.  We also noticed (though our guide did not mention them) the small childlike black figures in the bottom part of the picture serving the national figures (African colonies in their place?) (not visible from this photo)

After the tour we exited the building and found we were directly across from 10 Downing Street (the Prime Ministers residence).  We saw several cops with machine guns pass by and some random people exit the building, but didn't happen to see the PM.

After our tour, David, Delaney and I had dinner with my friend and the  diplomat.  It was interesting to learn more about his time in the foreign service.