Alan Campbell was born 1 July 1919, the youngest son of the late Hugh Campbell and Ethel Campbell (née Warren). In 1947 he married Margaret Taylor.

Campbell was educated at Sherborne School and Caius College, Cambridge. He served in the Devonshire Regiment, 1940-46, then joined the Diplomatic Service as 3rd Secretary in 1946 and in the same year was appointed to Lord Killearn’s Special Mission to Singapore. Campbell later served in Rome [Italy] in 1952, and Peking [China], 1955, and was part of the British Mission to the United Nations, New York [United States], 1961. He became Head of Western Department, Foreign Office in 1965, and was Counsellor at Paris [France], 1967, rising to Ambassador to Ethiopia, 1969-72. Campbell then served as Assistant Under-Secretary of State, FCO, 1972-74, Deputy Under-Secretary of State, FCO, 1974-76, and finally as Ambassador to Italy, 1976-79. He died in 2007.

He was awarded the GCMG in 1979 (KCMG 1976; CMG 1964).