Sir Richard Parsons (b. Marylebone 14 March 1928 – 23 April 2016) was a British diplomat who was ambassador to Hungary, Spain and Sweden, and a novelist, playwright and (under a pseudonym) crime writer.
Richard Edmund Clement Fownes Parsons was educated at Bembridge School and Brasenose College, Oxford. He served in the British Army 1949–51, then joined the Diplomatic Service. Between posts at the Foreign Office (later the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) he served at the embassies in Washington, D.C., Vientiane, Buenos Aires, Ankara and Lagos. He was ambassador to Hungary 1976–79, to Spain 1980–84, and to Sweden 1984–87. He was appointed CMG while in Hungary and knighted KCMG during his posting to Spain.
He died on 23 April 2016 at the age of 88.[1]
As John Haythorne: