The Foreign Service Journal, October 2012

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2012 17 summon you with a message to send? Westmacott: Not that often, but…occasionally, she will send me a little e-mail saying, “Here’s a nice letter I’d like you to send to that nice President Barack Obama in the White House. Please send it around.” Sagal: Really? You get little…did you say e-mails? Does the Queen e-mail? Westmacott: Oh, she’s very modern. She does Twitter; she does e-mail; she does Facebook; she does all sorts. Sagal: Wait a minute . Jesse Klein: What? Charlie Pierce: You’re not following the Queen? Sagal: The Queen of England tweets? Westmacott: You check it out. Sagal: So you were the ambassador to France prior to this. Westmacott: I was ambassador to France prior to this. Before that I was ambassador to Turkey. And I also served in Iran before the revolution. Sagal: Right. I mean, it seems odd to us that they would award plum ambassadorships on merit. Westmacott: To somebody like me? Sagal: Yes. Westmacott: Oh yeah. Sagal: Presumably... (Laughter) Sagal: I mean presumably because of your ability or something, rather than... Westmacott: Well, I did years of language training before I came here. Sagal: Really? (Laughter) Westmacott: That was really... Sagal: It’s really excellent. Your accent is a little off, but otherwise you sound fluent. Westmacott: I’mworking on it. n —Shawn Dorman, Associate Editor