Stirling was educated at Edinburgh Academy, served with the Royal Air Force in Egypt 1945–48, then read Modern Languages at Lincoln College, Oxford.
[3] He was posted to the British Embassy at Santiago 1965–67 and led the UK Delegation to the fourth Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in 1966.
[1] After serving at the Foreign Office 1967–69 Stirling was posted as Political Agent to Bahrain, which had been under British protection since 1860.
[4] He was posted to Beirut again as Counsellor 1972–75, then attended the Royal College of Defence Studies before being appointed Ambassador to Iraq 1977–80,[5] On 19 June 1980 he survived an assassination attempt: three terrorists burst into the embassy at Baghdad and fired three shots at him, one of which passed across his chest and through the lapel of his jacket.
[1] Stirling then retired from the Diplomatic Service and for 20 years worked with the charity SOS Sahel, as a member of its Council and as Chairman 1993–97.