Richard Edmund Clement Fownes Parsons was educated at
Bembridge School and
Brasenose College, Oxford. He served in the
British Army 1949–51, then joined the
Diplomatic Service. Between posts at the Foreign Office (later the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office) he served at the embassies in
Washington, D.C.,
Vientiane,
Buenos Aires,
Ankara and
Lagos. He was
ambassador to
Hungary 1976–79, to
Spain 1980–84, and to
Sweden 1984–87. He was appointed
CMG while in Hungary and knighted KCMG during his posting to Spain. He died on 23 April 2016 at the age of 88. ==Publications==