[1][2] In order to prepare for his entrance to the University of Edinburgh, where he was to study modern languages, he spent 1927–28 in Paris and the Convitto Maschile Valdese in Torre Pellice, Italy[5] where he became fluent in Italian.

He graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a first class honours[1] Master of Arts (Scotland)[6] in 1932, and then studied German further in Bonn and Tübingen, Germany.

He stayed for four months with a German newspaper proprietor's family which coincided with the accession to power of Adolf Hitler in January 1933.

[6] On 6 March 1938,[8] Marjoribanks was appointed Vice-Consul in Hankou[9] where the Chiang Kai-shek government had set up its temporary headquarters after the fall of Nanjing.

Hankou in turn became a very dangerous place after the rest of the British diplomatic staff left and the Japanese army occupied the city.

[2][12] Marjoribanks helped several vulnerable Chinese friends escape but the cruelty of the Japanese occupation of Hankou left an indelible memory with him for the rest of his life.

Marjoribanks next posting on 30 November 1940[8] was as Consul General to Jacksonville, Florida, United States,[13] where he emphasised Britain's determination to fight on and encouraged the Americans to become more active in the war.

[16][17] On 13 October 1942[8] Marjoribanks was moved to New York for two years[9] where he was part of the diplomatic effort to work on the British "special relationship" with the American Government.

[7] In 1945, Marjoribanks gave the ousted head of the government, General Nicolae Rădescu sanctuary in the British legation[1] and got him out of the country.

When the German peace talks at the Council foundered due to Soviet intransigence in 1947, Marjoribanks and his colleagues[20] requested that the Austrian treaty negotiators be allowed to continue which was accepted.

[21] To the credit of these negotiators, the talks continued until, after Stalin's death, the Russians signed the Austrian State Treaty, withdrew from the country and Austria remained outside the Iron Curtain.

[1] Marjoribanks became ill with blood poisoning, was promoted to Counsellor and seconded to the British Commonwealth Relations Office posted on 12 January 1950[8] to Canberra, Australia.

[2][24] Weir and Marjoribanks posed the following question in one of their first messages to London in 1952: "…whether we have determined in our own minds that we want the [European] integration movement to succeed...

He had strong personal misgivings during the Suez Crisis[2] but in spite of this the Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd regarded him with much approval.

[2] He received little encouragement from the British Ambassador who regarded trade and commerce as something beneath a gentleman's dignity and, like the Foreign Office, was lukewarm about European integration.

On 12 May 1967 he presented Britain's ultimately successful application to Renaat Van Elslande, who was in charge of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

[32] Most of the time, he worked for either the Labour Foreign Secretary Michael Stewart or George Brown (both of whom regarded him as suitable for this critical post).

General Charles de Gaulle raised numerous objections to Britain's entry which Marjoribanks and the Foreign Secretary of the time were able to overcome.

[12] Marjoribanks worked consistently at making useful contacts within the EEC and then astutely advised Whitehall on developments which might affect Britain's application to enter the Common Market.

[1][2] He was widely respected in Brussels[9] and some of the complements he got from his contemporaries when he retired were – best person to manage the British Foreign Secretary George Brown (who was notorious for his temper and rudeness);[1] – loyal, lucid and clear-thinking (France's chief negotiator Jean Marc Boegner);[12] and – an extremely good and skilful negotiator (British Prime Minister Ted Heath).