He was the foreign policy secretary to Margaret Thatcher and the UK ambassador to NATO.

Michael spent much of his youth in his father's native Ireland.

He was educated at Foyle College in Derry and, later, at St Paul's School, London, and King's College, Cambridge.

[2] He competed as a fencer for Great Britain at the 1960 Summer Olympics, winning a silver medal in the team épée event.

[3][4] Alexander also served as Permanent Representative on the North Atlantic Council and Ambassador to Austria.