For many decades, HBHC (as it then was) was under the Patronage of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. In 2002, upon her death, Lord Hertford became Patron.
Lord Hertford is the 9th Marquess of Hertford, a direct descendant of the 4th Marquess, father of Sir Richard Wallace.
Given its close and historical links with the British Embassy in France, the BCF had as its patron His Majesty’s Ambassador to France. Upon the merger of HBHC and BCF in 2025, the British Ambassador to France confirmed that this patronage would continue.
The Ninth Marquess of Hertford.
Lord Hertford has been patron of the Hertford British Hospital Corporation (now Hertford British Charitable Fund) since 2002 when he replaced Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen
Mother after her death. The appointment was a particular honour for him as he was the first patron not to be a senior member of the royal family. He lives in Ragley Hall, Warwickshire, the ancestral seat of the family.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Society and High Steward of Stratford-Upon-Avon.
Tom Drew is His Majesty’s Ambassador to France. Previously, Tom was Director General, Defence and Intelligence, at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) until December 2023. He had been Director General at the FCDO and previously the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) since January 2020.
Before this, Tom was British High Commissioner to Pakistan from February 2016 until October 2019. He was previously Principal Private Secretary (Chief of Staff) to Foreign Secretaries William Hague and Philip Hammond.
