Nigel Sheinwald was born 26 June 1953, the son of Leonard and Joyce Sheinwald. He was educated at Harrow County School for Boys and Balliol College, University of Oxford (BA Classics 1976; Honorary Fellow 2014). In 1980, he married Dr Julia Dunne, having three sons.

Sheinwald joined the Diplomatic Service in 1976 and his career included: Japan Desk, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1976-77; Russian language training, 1977-78; Third, later Second Secretary, Moscow, 1978-79 [Soviet Union]; Rhodesia/Zimbabwe Department, FCO, 1979-81; Eastern European and Soviet Department, FCO, 1981-83; First Secretary, Washington, 1983-87; Deputy Head, Policy Planning Staff, FCO, 1987-89; European Community Department (Internal), FCO, 1989-92; Counsellor and Head of Chancery, UK Permanent Representative to EU, 1993-95; Head of News Department, FCO, 1995-98; Director, EU, FCO, 1998-2000 ; Ambassador and UK Permanent Representative to EU, Brussels, 2000-03 ; Foreign Policy and Defence Adviser to the Prime Minister [Tony Blair], 2003-07; Ambassador to the United States, 2007-12 ; Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on intelligence and law enforcement data sharing, 2014-15.