Sir Nicholas Walker Browne, KBE, CMG (17 December 1947 – 14 January 2014) was a British diplomat. He served as Ambassador to Iran from 1999 to 2002 and Ambassador to Denmark from 2003 to 2006. Early life Browne was born on 17 December 1947 in West Malling, Kent. He was the third of four sons born to Gordon Browne, a World War II British Army officer and later a member of the intelligence services. He was educated at Cheltenham College, a public school in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. He won an open scholarship to study History at University College, Oxford. He captained the college rugby team, playing as hooker. Diplomatic career In 1969, after his graduation from university, Browne joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. His first posting to Iran was as Third Secretary in Tehran from 1971 to 1974. From 1976 to 1980, he was on loan to the Cabinet Office. Following the Iranian Revolution in 1979, he was asked by then foreign secretary David Owen to head an inquiry into why the Foreign and Commonwealth Office had failed to predict the fall of the Shah. In early 1980, he was posted to Southern Rhodesia as First Secretary and Head of Chancery. He attended the festivities that saw the transition of the country from Southern Rhodesia to Zimbabwe on 17/18 April 1980. Between 1981 and 1984, he was Desk Officer at the Maritime, Aviation and Environment Department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. From 1984 to 1989, he served as First Secretary at the British embassy to the European Economic Community. His specialism was the environment. In 1989, he was appointed chargé d'affaires to Iran in Tehran. However, three weeks after he took up the post diplomatic relations were broken off between Britain and Iran due to the Rushdie Affair. He served in London as a Foreign and Commonwealth Office counsellor. From 1990 to 1994, he was posted to the United States; first to Washington, D.C. as press and public affairs counselor and then to New York City as British information head. Between 1994 and 1997, he was Head of Middle Eastern Department, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in London. In 1997, he was posted to Iran as chargé d'affaires. In the 1999 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in recognition of his work in Iran. He was promoted to ambassador