He then continued with further studies in Switzerland and at Union College in the United States, obtaining a diploma in international relations.

In this time he produced over 200 television documentaries, including Emmy winner Contract 736, about the construction of the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2.

[10] During his time at Westminster he served as a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and that of the Western European Union.

[11] In 1995 Reid re-entered Scottish politics by delivering the annual Donaldson Lecture at the SNP conference, drawing on his knowledge of continental European politics to argue a case for why a party like the SNP could be expected to prosper if a Scottish Parliament was established.

[12] He stood in the Ochil constituency, which covered approximately the same area as his old seat, at Westminster in the UK general election 1997, coming in second.

[17][18] As the Presiding Officer is expected to be strictly nonpartisan, he voluntarily suspended his SNP membership for the duration of his tenure.

As the Presiding Officer has a role in advising the monarch, Reid was appointed a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 2004.

[21] As Presiding Officer he also led the creation of a Scottish Futures Forum, to promote cross-party strategic thinking.

[22][23] He was appointed President of the Royal Commonwealth Society Scotland,[24] and became Patron of the Scottish Disability Equality Forum.

As an independent figure with experience of a devolved parliament, he was chosen to lead a review of the administration of the troubled Northern Ireland Assembly.

[32] In September 2009, Reid was appointed by the National Trust for Scotland to lead a wide-ranging internal governance review.