The order of precedence: what it says and what it leaves to you

Most states publish an order of precedence for their own office holders, and no two look alike. The United Kingdom works from the official order of precedence alongside local civic precedence, where the Lord-Lieutenant, the High Sheriff and the Lord Mayor rank differently depending on the county and the occasion. The United States works from the State Department order, covering federal, state and municipal office holders. Before an important ceremony, start from the current official text published by the government concerned, not from a photocopy handed down in the office.

Two orders, not one

For the diplomatic corps there is a second reference: the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961. Heads of mission are divided into classes, and within each class they are ranked by the date and time they took up their functions, normally the presentation of credentials. The longest-serving head of mission in the senior class is the dean of the corps.

The national order ranks the host country’s office holders, the diplomatic order ranks foreign heads of mission, and the common mistake in the hall is to mix them without deciding in advance how they meet. Where ambassadors sit in relation to national office holders depends on the host country’s rules and practice, and the arrangement should be written down before the invitations go out.

What the texts do not say

Plenty of offices appear nowhere. Academic bodies are the clearest case: every university follows its own regulations or settled custom. The same goes for internal appointments, for the officers of professional bodies and for guests who hold no public office at all.

For offices that are not listed, you reason by analogy when the ceremony comes, and the decision rests with the office organising it. No software can make it for you. What you can do is write it down once and then apply it the same way every time: in CerimoniereWeb that is a custom protocol, which follows the same ordering rules as the official ones.