Francis Hyde Villiers

Sir Francis Hyde Villiers GCMG GCVO CB PC (13 August 1852 – 18 November 1925) was a British civil servant and diplomat who was ambassador to Portugal and Belgium.

[3] When the German army invaded Belgium in 1914 the Belgian Government retreated first to Antwerp and then to Le Havre (although King Albert remained in De Panne commanding the Belgian Army) and Villiers accompanied it until the end of the war, when he returned to Brussels.

After the peace treaty had been signed, the British Legation at Brussels was raised to an Embassy and Villiers was promoted to Ambassador in October 1919.

Francis Villiers was appointed CB in 1894,[5] knighted KCMG in 1906 on his appointment to Portugal,[6] given the additional knighthood of GCVO on the occasion of the King of Portugal's visit to England in 1909[7] and promoted GCMG in the New Year Honours of 1918.

[9] The King of Portugal gave him the Grand Cross of the Order of Christ, and the King of the Belgians gave him the Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold.