Dear compatriots and friends,

After four years, it is time for me to say goodbye and return to Switzerland to take up a new assignment in Bern. It has been a privilege and a pleasure to represent our country in the United Kingdom, to strengthen bilateral relations and to promote the interests of Switzerland and its citizens.

My posting coincided with an extraordinary time in the United Kingdom, witnessing the Platinum Jubilee and the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II as well as the Coronation of King Charles III. Politically, the United Kingdom underwent profound changes with four different Prime Ministers and even more Foreign Secretaries. On a bilateral level, I was privileged to welcome Swiss Presidents Ignazio Cassis (in 2022), Alain Berset (in 2023) and Viola Amherd (in 2024) along with a series of Swiss Federal Councillors who concluded important Swiss-UK agreements on social security, financial services, science cooperation, railway connections and mutual recognition of professional qualifications.

I also had the pleasure to meet with many of you during visits around the four nations, the Channel Islands, Gibraltar and the Cayman Islands. Thank you for flying the Swiss flag and for playing your part in promoting our bilateral relations. I invite you to stay in touch with the Embassy and my successor Dominique Paravicini to whom you will no doubt give a very warm welcome.

Together with my wife Doris, I wish you and your families all the best. 

Markus Leitner
Ambassador of Switzerland to the United Kingdom (2021-2025)