In November 1920 Lord Hardinge succeeded Lord Derby as ambassador to France, thereby acquiring the position that he had wanted and been expected to get for so long. Ironically enough, he had, as he realized, George Nathaniel Curzon, the foreign secretary, to thank for the Paris plum. His gratistude, however, did not prevent him from remarking later that one of the main reasons why he accepted the offer was that it gave him satisfaction that it was Lloyd George and Curzon, ‘who three years earlier had done their utmost to hound me out of the Diplomatic Service’ just after the publication of the Mesopotamia Commission Report, who offered him the coveted post. Hardinge's appointment was generally well received, and he was happy to escape from the ‘never-ending strain’ of the Foreign Office.