UK ambassador says French border officials didn't believe she was a diplomat and asked if she meant her husband instead

• The UK's ambassador to France said French border officials questioned her diplomatic status.
• Menna Rawlings said she was asked if her husband was the ambassador instead.

The UK's ambassador to France said that French border-control agents did not believe that she was a diplomat and asked if her husband was the diplomat instead.

Dame Menna Rawlings tweeted on Friday that the incident took place as she was traveling through Paris' Gare du Nord station, at which trains to and from England stop, that morning. She did not say whether she was traveling to or from England at the time.

She said she had a "classic" experience at the French border that started when an official said that he needed to stamp her passport.

Rawlings said she responded: "Actually you don't: I live here and I'm a diplomat."

She said that the official then responded: "You?? Or do you mean your husband?"

Rawlings added the hashtag "#everydaysexism."

—Menna Rawlings (@MennaRawlings) July 15, 2022

Neither Rawlings, the UK embassy in France, nor the French National Police, which oversees the border police, immediately responded to Insider's request for comment.

Rawlings was appointed as the UK's ambassador to France in August 2021, and is the first woman to hold the role.

She previously served as the UK's high commissioner to Australia, and as the director-general of economic and global issues at the UK's Foreign & Commonwealth Office.