[5][6] Her father served in World War II as an officer of the Suffolk Regiment, and won the Military Cross for gallantry.

[1] In 1988, she went on to Yale University in the United States to further her studies on international relations, and obtained a postgraduate Master of Arts (MA) degree.

[2] She served in Russia from 1994 to 1998 as Second (and later First) Secretary, and in China from 2003 to 2009, first as Political Counsellor, then across the whole United Kingdom-China relationship as Deputy Head of Mission, including during the 2008 Summer Olympics.

[9] In 2015, in a conversation with Lucy D'Orsi, Queen Elizabeth II said that Chinese officials "were very rude to the ambassador" (referring to Woodward), during an event at Lancaster House, London.

[3] Woodward was included in the 1999 New Year Honours list and made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II when she was serving as the First Secretary to Moscow.