Palmerston, a cat who served as the “chief mouser” for Britain’s diplomatic service, has died in Bermuda. He was about 12.
“Palmerston, Diplocat extraordinaire, passed away peacefully,” his social media account announced on Friday, a day after he died. “He was a wonderful companion, with a gentle nature, and will be sorely missed.”
“Farewell Palmerston, with love and thanks,” the Foreign Office wrote in a separate tribute on social media, acknowledging his work as a “feline diplomat.”
Palmerston was born in 2013, according to the Foreign Office, and was named after Lord Palmerston, the 19th-century foreign secretary and two-time prime minister. The cat was adopted in 2016 from the Battersea Cats and Dogs Home, an animal rescue center in London, after he had spent a rough time on the streets: “He was hungry, underweight and had no microchip,” the BBC reported.
He was initially tasked with dealing with mice in the Foreign Office’s Victorian-era headquarters in London, one of the British government’s grandest buildings. But he became a social media star, eventually amassing almost 100,000 followers on X — more than many British ambassadors have.
He even dressed for the part. Famously, he never took off his tuxedo.
A few months after Palmerston was adopted, Britain voted to leave the European Union, a decision that led to a period of political turmoil. On the ground, Palmerston kept calm and carried on catching mice. On social media, he was a friendly face for the country through his regular updates.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Palmerston was eventually moved out of central London and formally retired to the countryside in 2020, with Andrew Murdoch, who worked in the Foreign Office alongside the cat. In Palmerston’s farewell letter to Simon McDonald, then the top civil servant at the Foreign Office, Palmerston revealed himself to be a master diplomat or even spy by admitting to “pretending to be asleep while overhearing all the foreign dignitaries’ conversations.”
Last February, Palmerston came out of retirement to take up a new posting with Mr. Murdoch, with whom he had lived in retirement.
It was a good gig for an aging cat. Palmerston described his work as “feline relations consultant (semi-retired).” There, he “gave audiences to visitors between well-deserved naps,” the office of the governor said on social media.
Many will miss him. But perhaps no one understood him better than Larry the Cat, the chief mouser at No. 10 Downing Street, the prime minister’s official residence, who has almost 900,000 followers on social media.
At first, the two did not get along. Video footage taken soon after Palmerston arrived at the Foreign Office showed the cats in the sort of heated confrontation more commonly seen between politicians than civil servants. Larry was once spotted with a limp after reports that Palmerston had clawed him.
But the two appeared to have repaired their relationship after Palmerston moved out of London. Last week, Larry joined the nation in mourning his old rival after a life of service for Queen, King and country. “Farewell old friend,” he wrote on social media.
Amelia Nierenberg is a Times reporter covering international news from London.
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