HIS EXCELLENCY SIR ARTHUR FOULKES GCMG GOVERNOR-GENERAL 2010 - 2014

His Excellency Sir Arthur Alexander Foulkes is the eighth Bahamian Governor-General of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. Sir Arthur was sworn in on April 14, 2010, upon the retirement of Governor-General the Honourable Arthur Dion Hanna.
 

In recognition of his new status, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II elevated Sir Arthur to the status of the Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George in June 2010, from his 2001 status of Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George.
 

Arthur Alexander Foulkes was born in Mathew Town, Inagua, May 11, 1928, the son of the late Dr. William A. Foulkes and Mrs. Julie Foulkes nee Maisonneuve.
 

He was educated at public schools in Matthew Town and Nassau and worked at The Nassau Guardian as a linotype operator and proof-reader. He joined The Tribune as a linotype operator in 1948 and took up journalism under Editor and Publisher Sir Etienne Dupuch who made him a reporter and later appointed him News Editor of The Tribune.
 

Sir Arthur was founding editor of Bahamian Times, official organ of the Progressive Liberal Party from 1962 to 1967.
 

Later, he was a columnist for The Guardian and The Tribune and from 2002 to 2007 resumed his popular column, “To The Point”, in The Tribune.
 

Sir Arthur drafted the PLP’s petition to the United Nations Committee of Twenty Four (on decolonisation) and was a member of the delegation, which presented the petition in 1965. He also drafted the first platform of the Free National Movement in 1971.
 

Sir Arthur was elected to Parliament in 1967, serving in various offices over the years, including Minister of Communications and Minister of Tourism in the PLP Government.
 

Under his leadership the Ministry of Tourism chalked up impressive gains in 1969, including presiding over the complete Bahamianisation of the management of BaTtelCo, the national public telephone corporation.
 

Sir Arthur was instrumental in enabling black Bahamian stewardesses to work on international flights. It was on his ministerial watch in 1968 that the Bahamas-based International Air Bahama flew to Europe for the first time.
 

Sir Arthur was one of the Dissident Eight who rejected the leadership of Sir Lynden in 1970 and was a founder of the Free National Movement in 1971. He was appointed to the Senate in 1972 and 1977 and re-elected to the House of Assembly in 1982.
 

In 1972 he was an Opposition delegate to The Bahamas Independence Constitution Conference in London and drafted the conference’s Opposition Memorandum.
 

In 1992 Sir Arthur entered the diplomatic service of The Bahamas as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Ambassador to France, Germany, Italy, Belgium and the European Union (resident in London).
 

He represented The Bahamas to the Commonwealth in London, and the African Caribbean Pacific Group in Brussels, was Permanent Representative to the International Maritime Organization and also Doyen of the Caribbean diplomatic corps in the United Kingdom. He founded Friends of The Bahamas, a London-based association.
 

In 1999 he was appointed the first Bahamas Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China and Ambassador to the Republic of Cuba (both nonresident). He is a founding member of the China Bahamas Friendship Association.
 

After the FNM was returned to office in May 2007, he was appointed Director General of Bahamas Information Services, the Government’s news agency, and designated to act as Deputy to the Governor General.
 

Sir Arthur is fond of the arts and classical music and jazz. He has always taken a special interest in ecology.
 

His wife, Joan Lady Foulkes, is the former Joan Eleanor Bullard of Nassau.