Simon McDonald (diplomat)

Sir Simon Gerard McDonald KCMG KCVO (born 9 March 1961) is a British diplomat who is Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Head of the Diplomatic Service.

McDonald was educated at De La Salle College, Salford and Pembroke College, Cambridge. He joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1982 and served in Jeddah, Riyadh, Bonn and Washington, D.C. as well as in London. He was Principal Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary 2001–03; Ambassador to Israel 2003–06; Director for Iraq at the FCO 2006–07; Foreign Policy Adviser to the Prime Minister and Head of the Overseas and Defence Secretariat at the Cabinet Office 2007–10; and was appointed Ambassador to Germany in October 2010.

In September 2015, McDonald became Permanent Under-Secretary in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Head of the Diplomatic Service, replacing Sir Simon Fraser. As of 2015, McDonald was paid a salary of between £180,000 and £184,999 by the Foreign Office, making him one of the 328 most highly paid people in the British public sector at that time.

McDonald was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 2004 New Year Honours and Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to British foreign policy and British interests in Germany. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO) during the Queen's state visit to Germany in June 2015.

In 1989 Simon McDonald married Olivia, daughter of Sir Patrick Wright, later Baron Wright of Richmond, who had also been Permanent Under-Secretary at the FCO (1986–1991). Simon and Olivia have two sons and two daughters.