French envoy may face her first seasickness test in Iceland

Marie-Gaëlle Robles, France’s new ambassador to Iceland, says she has never been seasick and is proud of it, but has yet to test her sea legs in Icelandic waters. She told Morgunblaðið that she would like to sail around Iceland, despite knowing the seas can be rough.

Robles has experience of life at sea from her previous role as political adviser to the head of the French Navy. Based in Paris, she was encouraged by naval personnel to see their work firsthand. She went aboard an aircraft carrier and submarines, travelled in speedboats and was once flown by helicopter to a ship offshore.

She wondered whether the helicopter trip was a test, she said, but learned it was simply one way to reach ships at sea.

Robles took up her post in Iceland in late August. It is her first ambassadorial role, after a career spent mostly in France’s foreign service. She said she knew after completing her studies that she wanted to become a diplomat and developed an early interest in security and defence.

Her previous postings include work on arms control at French missions to the United Nations in Geneva and New York, and a role in Copenhagen covering Greenland affairs and Arctic issues. She was also deputy ambassador in Qatar, where she helped with the evacuation of people from Afghanistan. Before coming to Iceland, she worked on North Atlantic affairs for the French Navy.

Robles is from Brittany on France’s western coast but was born on Réunion, an island in the Indian Ocean, while her parents were working there. She finds it amusing to be living on a volcanic island again. The wind and rain in Iceland do not come as a complete surprise, she said, as people in Brittany are used to both. “So I feel at home,” she added.

What stands out most from her years working with the navy is the solidarity among crews. When people are far from home and family, sometimes in difficult conditions, they need to rely on and support one another, she said. That solidarity is not just a slogan but a reality in the navy.

Robles wants to bring the same approach to her work at the embassy, where staff are also often far from home and family and need to depend on one another. She said Icelanders had welcomed her warmly since her arrival. She particularly remembers the reception from Icelandic President Halla Tómasdóttir when she presented her credentials.