Antonia Romeo

Dame Antonia Rebecca Caroline Angharad Catherine Romeo DCB (née Rice-Evans; born 20 October 1974) is a British civil servant.

[3] She was the permanent secretary at the Department for International Trade and before that, the British consul-general in New York for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and concurrently director-general for economic and commercial affairs in the USA.

[5][6] Romeo's undergraduate education at Brasenose College, Oxford, culminated in her earning a BA (subsequently upgraded to an MA(Oxon)) in philosophy, politics and economics.

Following the 2010 United Kingdom general election and the subsequent formation of the Cameron–Clegg coalition, Romeo transferred to the Cabinet Office as the Executive Director in the new Efficiency and Reform Group under Francis Maude.

[13] During the 2015 election Romeo took on the role of director general at the Economic and Domestic Affairs Secretariat and was responsible for delivering the prime minister's top policy priorities.

Romeo later said that the Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Heywood had asked her to stay in the civil service, and encouraged her to take on a role in New York as the Government's envoy to the tech sector.

[17] As DGECA USA, Romeo's responsibilities included oversight of the North American operations of the foreign commercial arm of the UK Government.

"[18] Asked about xenophobic rhetoric used in the Brexit campaign Romeo replied that the government "thinks xenophobia and hate crime are completely unacceptable."

[10] In the course of her duties as Director General Economic and Commercial Affairs, Romeo and her staff had a number of contacts with British tech company Cambridge Analytica.

Romeo met with executives and as a result of the meeting her subordinates invited the company to take part in a potential spin-off of the "GREAT campaign" titled "#dataisGREAT".

[22] In her role as Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, Romeo was responsible for the official record of the Coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla as it occurred at Westminster Abbey on 6th May 2023.

[citation needed] She married John Romeo, a managing partner in charge of North America for Oliver Wyman,[1][29] and has three children.

Antonia Romeo taking oath as Clerk of the Crown in Chancery.