John Balfour

Who was John Balfour?

John Balfour GCMG, GBE was a British diplomat.

Balfour was an Oxford student studying German in the city of Freiberg when World War I began. He spent the entire war in a German prisoner camp.

During his service with the Foreign Office, Balfour was posted to Portugal, Spain, Argentina, Moscow, and Washington DC. A hispanophile, Balfour was an ardent opponent of Francisco Franco's fascist regime.

In 1983, Balfour published his memoirs, Not Too Correct an Aureole: Recollections of a Diplomat.