Thorhilda Abbott-Watt OBE has been appointed High Commissioner to the Kingdom of Tonga as the United Kingdom reopens its resident High Commission in Nukuʻalofa.
Miss Abbott-Watt will succeed the current, non-resident High Commissioner, Ms Melanie Hopkins, who will remain British High Commissioner to the Republic of Fiji.
She will take up her appointment during February 2020.
Miss Abbott-Watt has wide diplomatic experience since beginning her career in Britain's Foreign Service in 1974 and in 2019 served as the Queen's Ambassador in Turkmenistan.
The British embassy is re-opening in Tonga after being closed for nearly 13 years.
In April last year Boris Johnson who was British Foreign Secretary at the time, announced the United Kingdom would open new diplomatic posts in Vanuatu, Samoa and Tonga as part of an expansion of its overseas network with nine new Commonwealth posts.
Robin Ord-Smith, was originally appointed to be High Commissioner to Tonga last year