Laureation address: Dame Anne Pringle DCMG

Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters
Laureation by Professor Dame Sally Mapstone DBE FRSE, Principal and Vice-Chancellor

Thursday 23 June 2022

Chancellor, it is my privilege to present for the degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, Dame Anne Pringle. 

Dame Anne Pringle’s appointment as Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Russian Federation in 2008 did not pass without notice. Russia is a diplomatic posting of distinct challenge, and one loaded with a higher-than-usual level of public interest and political weight. And 2008 was not an insignificant year: Vladimir Putin, who had served as President since 2000, transitioned to the role of Prime Minister, and the short-lived Russo-Georgian War in August was one of the first conflicts of the twenty-first century on European soil. The inheritor of this political landscape would shoulder an enormous responsibility, and it is in that context that Dame Anne became the first woman ambassador since Queen Victoria established the position in 1860 – something which, even just a few years ago, did not go unchallenged. 

Dame Anne commented in response to detractors: ‘I’m not a pushover. I’m quite resolute, very focused, and committed.’ I draw from personal experience in confirming these attributes. At St Andrews, we know Dame Anne as an alumna, but also as the former Senior Governor of the University Court – our highest governing body. Dame Anne is also a natural leader and decision maker, an astute judge of both people and situations, utterly fearless, and an extremely hard worker. Formidable though she may be, those who work with Dame Anne are also familiar with her generosity, sense of humour, and unceasing desire to turn her years of experience toward good causes. Leadership, respect, and friendship can often be contending forces, and it takes a character of Dame Anne’s calibre to embody these qualities simultaneously. 

It is thus a source of pride that Dame Anne is a child of Scotland: she attended Glasgow High School for Girls followed by the University of St Andrews where, in 1977, she attained her Master of Arts with Honours in French and German. Dame Anne graduated straight into the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, or FCO, cutting her teeth at postings in Moscow toward the end of Leonid Brezhnev’s tenure as General Secretary, and in Brussels at the European Union. 

Dame Anne’s first senior posting in 1996 was as Head of the FCO’s Common Foreign and Security Policy Department, and two years later she was appointed Head of the Eastern Department – in which role she was responsible for developing an engagement strategy for the newly elected President Putin. Her first ambassadorial posting was as Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Czech Republic from 2001 to 2004, during which time Dame Anne assisted in preparing for Czechia’s membership of the EU – ratified at the end of her tenure. And Dame Anne returned to London in 2004 when she was appointed Director of Strategy and Information – in which capacity she produced the FCO’s Global Strategy, and one of the first two female members of the FCO board. It was at this time, in 2004, that Dame Anne’s services were first recognised by Her Majesty the Queen through her appointment as Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, of which Order Anne was subsequently appointed Dame Commander in 2010. 

Dame Anne assumed the Ambassadorship to Russia in 2008, returning in 2011, and from 2012 to 2016 she served as a member of the UK Foreign Secretary’s Locarno Group – established by the Secretary of State to capitalise upon the knowledge of our leading diplomats. Dame Anne contemporaneously served as a Public Appointments Assessor – chairing panels to elect the head of major public bodies, including the Court of the Bank of England; and from 2013 to 2015 Dame Anne served as the UK Government’s Special Representative on Deportation with Assurances. 

Dame Anne has herself turned towards senior governance positions in recent years. From 2012 to 2021, she served as a Non-Executive Director of the Ashmore Group, and she served as Senior Governor of the University of St Andrews from 2016 to 2020, and she has served as a Trustee of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London since 2016. 

The honorary doctorate the University is awarding Dame Anne reflects her monumental contributions to the international order; it also captures, however, an equally significant contribution to our University. Dame Anne joined our University Court in 2012, and she was elected by her peers as Senior Governor in 2016. That role, which has since been reconstituted by government as the Senior Lay Member, is one of the chief public offices of this University: its occupant steers our governing body and its subcommittees, and they and the Court are responsible for working with me, as Principal, holding my office to account, and realising our University Strategy. 

The scale and impact of Dame Anne’s contributions to our University are beyond measure, and to see their manifestations I say: look around you. The Younger Hall redevelopment is just one of the projects that came to fruition during Dame Anne’s tenure. Others include our ambitious sustainability and entrepreneurial projects at the Eden Campus in Guardbridge; the new Laidlaw Music Centre; and two new halls of residence – Powell and Whitehorn Halls. Dame Anne’s tenure oversaw the implementation of a new University Strategy for 2018 to 2023 which has taken us to first place in the UK’s premier domestic ranking; it saw us through the pandemic and its existential challenges; and – most importantly – it has established the groundwork upon which we will build for the next generation of researchers and scholars. Simply put, no part of our University has been untouched by Dame Anne, by her dutiful service and graceful diligence, and this honorary doctorate is just recognition for a friend, colleague, and role model who has done as much as anyone to shape the modern University of St Andrews. 

Chancellor, in recognition of her major contribution to foreign diplomacy and the University of St Andrews, I invite you to confer the degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, on Dame Anne Pringle.