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An ambassador, rarely embassador, is a diplomatic official accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization, to serve as the official representative of his or her own. In everyday usage it applies to the ranking plenipotentiary minister stationed in a foreign capital. Diplomatic officers heading missions outside the capital, or heads of "interest group" missions between two states which do not have diplomatic relations, are known as consuls. The host country typically allows the ambassador control of specific territory called an embassy, whose territory, staff, and even vehicles are generally afforded diplomatic immunity to most laws of the host country.
The senior diplomatic officers among members of the Commonwealth of Nations are known as High Commissioners, who are the heads of High Commissions. Representatives of the Holy See are known as Papal or Apostolic Nuncios, while the head of a Libyan People's Bureau is a Secretary.
Historically, officials representing their countries abroad were termed ministers, but this term was also applied to diplomats of the second rank. The Congress of Vienna of 1815Events January 3 Austria, Britain, and France form a secret defensive alliance treaty against Prussia and Russia. January 8 War of 1812: Battle of New Orleans February 3 The first commercial cheese factory is founded in Switzerland February 6 New Jersey g formalized the system of diplomatic rankUntil the early 19th Century, each European nation had its own system of diplomatic rank . The relative ranks of diplomats from different nations had been a source of considerable dispute, made more so by the insistence of major nations to have their dipl under international lawInternational law deals with the relationships between states, or between persons or entities in different states. It sub-divides into "public international law", and " private international law". When used without an adjective, "international law" genera:
- Ambassadors are ministers of the highest rank, with plenipotentiary authority to represent their head of state. An Ordinary Ambassadors is one heading a permanent diplomatic mission, for instance the senior professional diplomat in an embassy. An Extraordinary Ambassador could be appointed for special purposes or for an indefinite term; politically appointed ambassadors would fall under this category.
Moreover, a Resident Ambassador is one who resides within the country to which s/he is accredited. A Non-Resident Ambassador is one who does not reside within the country to which s/he is accredited, but lives in a nearby country. Thus a resident ambassador to a country might at the same time also be a non-resident ambassador to several other countries.
Among EuropeFor the band of the same name, see Europe (band . Europe is a continent forming the westermost part of the Eurasian supercontinent. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Sean powers, the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary (French ambassadeur extraordinaire et plénipotentiaire or German Botschafter ausserordentlicher bevollmachtiger) was deemed the personal representative of the sovereign, and the custom of dispatching ambassadors to the head of state rather than the government has persisted. For example, ambassadors to and from the United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a state in Western Europe, usually known simply as the United Kingdom the UK Britain or less accurately as Great Britain . The UK was formed by a series of Acts of Union which united the formerly are accredited to or from the Royal Court of St James, rather than to the State.
Because members of the Commonwealth of Nations has or had a common head of state, they do not exchange ambassadors, but instead have High Commissioners which represent the government rather than the head of state.
- Ranking below full ambassador are the rank of envoy, minister resident and chargé d'affaires. They represent their government rather than their head of state. For further details, see diplomatic rank.
