Who is Baroness Patricia Scotland, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth?

BARONESS Patricia Scotland is the sixth Commonwealth Secretary-General.

She is the second Secretary-General from the Caribbean and the first woman to hold the post.

Who is Baroness Patricia Scotland?

Patricia Janet Scotland was born on August 19, 1955 in Dominica.

She moved to the UK with her family, growing up in East London.

She trained as a lawyer and became the first black woman to be appointed a Queen’s Counsel (QC) in 1991.

At 35 she was also the youngest woman ever to be made a QC.

Early in 1997, she was elected as a Bencher of the Middle Temple.

Scotland was named as a Millennium Commissioner and was a member of the Commission for Racial Equality.

She became a Labour life peer and gained the title Baroness Scotland of Asthal on October 30, 1997.

From 1999 to 2001, Scotland was the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

She created an Overseas Territories Council for the Caribbean and reformed and restructured the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Consular Division to be able to respond more effectively to emergencies and disasters abroad.

In 2001 she became Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor’s Department and made a member of the Privy Council.

In 2003, Scotland was made Minister for the Criminal Justice System and Law Reform at the Home Office and deputy to the Home Secretary.

On June 28, 2007, Scotland was appointed Attorney General by then Prime Minister Gordon Brown. She was the first woman to hold the office since its foundation in 1315.

She became the 6th Commonwealth Secretary-General on April 1, 2016.

Scotland is married to Richard Mawhinney, also a barrister, and they have two sons.

What does the Secretary General of Commonwealth do?

The Commonwealth Secretary-General is responsible for:

• promoting and protecting the Commonwealth’s values
• representing the Commonwealth publicly
• the management of the Commonwealth Secretariat.

What has Baroness Patricia Scotland said about the Queen?

Baroness Scotland has praised the late Queen in a touching tribute.

Speaking at her official residence, Marlborough House in central London, following the proclamation of the new King on Saturday, Lady Scotland said: “I think one of the things I know is that we will never see her like again.

“She had a life of dedication, of faith, and actually of love – her kindness is something I think will last for generations.

“She was on our throne for 70 years and in those 70 years I think every day she applied herself for our service, so I think I would like to say a huge thank you to her for her dedication, for her love, and for her cherishing of a Commonwealth family who will forever be grateful to her.

“And I welcome the fact that King Charles III is going to take up that mantle and I know he will work as hard as she, and for that we should also be truly grateful.”

She said: “The wonderful thing about the whole of her reign is she built the Commonwealth brick by brick with all the leaders and they made sure that it got stronger and stronger.”

Lady Scotland added the Queen had “left our Commonwealth in robust good health”.

The Secretary-General also spoke of how the Commonwealth would continue to have “challenging conversations” with Charles as the new King.

“I’m sure that challenging conversations are going to continue, and the courage and determination of the Commonwealth countries to stand together for justice, for equality – that’s never going to change.”