Andrew Mitchell (diplomat)
Sir Andrew Mitchell (1708–1771) was a British diplomat noted for his service as envoy to the court of Frederick the Great during the Seven Years' War. Early Career and Interests Mitchell was the son of the Rev. William Mitchell, minister of St Giles and King's chaplain and educated at the University of Edinburgh, Leyden University (1730–31), Paris (1731–32,) and Italy (1732–35). He then entered the Middle Temple in 1734 to study law, where he was called to the bar in 1738. He was made advocate in 1736. His legal and intellectual interests took him frequently abroad, and in 1735 he formed a close friendship with Montesquieu in Paris. He took up a broad spectrum of intellectual pursuits that encompassed ancient and modern history, art, literature, and moral philosophy; in 1736 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society . Diplomatic career He served as under-secretary for Scotland from 1742 to 1746. He was a commissary in Brussels for negotiating a commercial agreement with Austria and the Netherlands from 1752 to 1755 and an envoy to Prussia from 1756 to June 1765 and from December 1765 to his death. Envoy to Prussia In May 1756, Mitchell arrived in Berlin, and