In 1822, Foreign Secretary George Canning downgraded the Embassy to a Mission, and the Head of Mission from an Ambassador to an Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, to reflect Spain's decreased importance on the world stage. The Mission in Madrid was upgraded to a full Embassy once more in 1877.

List of Heads of Mission

The following is a partial list of British ambassadors to Spain.

Ambassadors

• John Digby Esq. (1610-1618)
• John Digby, 1st Baron Digby (1622-1624)
• Sir Henry Bennet (1658-1661)
• Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland (1671-1672)
• Charles Granville, Lord Lansdown (1685-1689)
• Charles Berkeley, Viscount Dursley (1689)
• James Stanhope (1706-1707)
• James Stanhope (1708-1710)
• John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll (1711-1712)
• Robert Sutton, 2nd Baron Lexinton (1712-1713)
• Robert Benson, 1st Baron Bingley (1713-1714)
• George Dodington, 1st Baron Melcombe (1715-1717)
• William Stanhope (1721-1727)
• Benjamin Keene (1729-1739)
• Benjamin Keene (1748-1757) (2nd time)
• George Hervey, 2nd Earl of Bristol (1758-1761)

No representation (1761-1763, due to Anglo-Spanish War)

• William Nassau de Zuylestein, 4th Earl of Rochford (1763-1766)
• Sir James Gray, 2nd Baronet (1766-1770)
• George Pitt (1770-1771)
• Thomas Robinson, 2nd Baron Grantham (1771-1779)
• James Harris (minister plenipotentiary 1771)

No representation (1779-1783, due to Anglo-Spanish War)

• John Crichton-Stuart, 1st Baron Cardiff (1783-1784)
• Robert Liston (minister plenipotentiary 1784)
• Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl of Chesterfield (1784-1786)
• William Eden Esq. (1787-1789)
• Alleyne Fitzherbert, 1st Baron St Helens (Minister Plenipotentiary) (1790-1794)
• Sir Morton Eden (1794-1795)
• John Crichton-Stuart, 1st Baron Cardiff (1795-1796)
• John Hookham Frere (1802-1804 and 1808)
• Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley (1809)

Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary

• George Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon (1833-1839)

Ambassadors

• Lionel Sackville-West, 2nd Baron Sackville (1878-1881)
• Mortimer Durand (1900-1903)
• Sir Arthur Nicolson (1904-1905)
• Sir Arthur Hardinge (1913-1919)
• Sir Esme Howard (1919-1924)
• Sir Horace Rumbold, 9th Baronet (1924-1928)
• Sir George Grahame (1928-1935)
• Sir Henry Chilton (1935-1940)
• Sir Samuel Hoare (1940-1944)
• Sir Victor Mallet (1945-1946)
• Sir George Balfour (1951-1954)
• Ivo Mallet (1954-1960)
• Sir George Labouchère (1960-1966)
• Sir Alan Meredith Williams (1966-1969)
• Sir John Russell (1969-1974)
• Charles D. Wiggin (1974-1977)
• Sir Anthony Arthur Acland (1977-1979)
• Richard Parsons (1980-1984)
• Lord Nicholas Gordon-Lennox (1984-1989)
• Sir Robin Fearn (1989-1994)
• David Brighty (1994-1998)
• Sir Peter Torry (1998-2003)
• Sir Stephen Wright (2003-2007)
• Denise Holt (2007-)