Francis Leveson Bertie, 1st Viscount Bertie of Thame, ( "barty of tame"; 17 August 1844 – 26 September 1919) was a British diplomat. He was Ambassador to Italy between 1903 and 1905 and Ambassador to France between 1905 and 1918. Background and education Bertie was the second son of the 6th Earl of Abingdon and Elizabeth Harcourt, daughter of George Harcourt. He was educated at Eton. From his great grandmother Charlotte Warren he had Dutch and Huguenot ancestral roots from the Schuyler family, the Van Cortlandt family, and the Delancey family of British North America. Diplomatic career Bertie entered the Foreign Office in 1863. From 1874 to 1880 he served as Private Secretary to Robert Bourke, the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and in 1878 attended the Congress of Berlin. He served as acting senior clerk in the Eastern department from 1882 to 1885, and then later as senior clerk and assistant under-secretary in that department. In 1902 he was rewarded for his services by being made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 1902 Coronation Honours list published on 26 June 1902. He received the knighthood in a private audience with King Edward VII on 2 August, during the King's convalescence on board HMY Victoria and Albert. In January 1903, Bertie was made Ambassador to Italy, and in March the same year he was appointed a Privy Counsellor. He served in Italy only two years, as in 1905 he was moved to the more important post of Ambassador to France, a post previously held by his father-in-law, Lord Cowley. Bertie would hold the Paris embassy for the next thirteen years. Having spent most of his career in the Foreign Office, he initially had some trouble adjusting to the role of ambassador, where he had far less control over the development of policy but in his time at Paris Bertie was able to play a substantial role in strengthening the Entente Cordiale between France and Britain into a genuine alliance, encouraging strong British backing for France during the Moroccan Crises of 1905 and 1911. During these years, he was also showered with honours, being made Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) in 1903, a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (GCMG) in 1904, and a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB)