"The soldier and diplomat John Lambert rubbing shoulders with Tunisian royalty and the German High Command while serving in the Army in North Africa and Italy, before moving to a career in the Foreign Office. As Minister and Deputy Commandant in Cold War Berlin he used his diplomacy to deal with matters such as Rudolf Hess’s treatment and the repatriation of Lord Aberdare’s body from Yugoslavia, while also meeting Audrey Hepburn and eventually seeing his career turn full circle with his appointment as Ambassador to Tunisia. With the tide in North Africa turning the Allies’ way in 1942, Lambert and his regiment, the 3rd Battalion of the Grenadier Guards, were forcing the Afrika Korps back. With the Germans in full flight following the fall of Tunis, regimental intelligence officer Lieutenant Lambert was sent ahead to the summer palace at Hammam-Lif to seize the Bey (King), Muhammed VII, as a trophy. But Lambert found himself outranked by a colonel who had instructions to pack the Bey off in a truck to British HQ in the capital. There was consternation among the king’s ministers and entourage. Fortunately, Lambert, a fluent French speaker, skilfully negotiated the Bey’s departure in his state Daimler, while securing a photograph of the monarch, a Citroën car and two bottles of champagne for his return. Three days later, he reached the German Divisional HQ to witness the final preparations for surrender with the capture of nearly 250,000 German and Italians. A fluent German speaker, he helped with interrogation. Promoted to captain, he was posted to Italy in February 1944 and was involved in the mountain battle for Monte Cerasola and the capture of Perugia. Later, in southern Austria, he helped persuade General Tito’s communist partisans to move from Carinthia back across the Yugoslav border. He was demobbed in 1946. Born in Chelsea in 1921, John Lambert was the son of Ronald Lambert MC, a Grenadiers officer, and Hazel. He was educated at Eton, where his last act was to sandbag his boarding house with war on the horizon, before moving on to Trinity College, Cambridge. But this was cut short in 1940 when he was called up." http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/sir-john-lambert-soldier-whose-immense-diplomatic-skills-served-him-well-during-wwii-and-later-in-tunisia-and-cold-war-berlin-10433381.html
