announced yesterday.

Career diplomat John Thorold Masefield, who holds the Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, will be met by a group of dignitaries led by Acting Governor Peter Willis at Bermuda International Airport.

And on Wednesday, Mr. Masefield, 57, will be officially sworn in at the Cabinet Building in a ceremony including the Bermuda Regiment's Guard of Honour.

Mr. Masefield will be sworn in by Chief Justice Austin Ward in the Senate Chamber before MPs, Senators and invited guests.

Afterwards, Mr. Masefield will move to the Cabinet Room where a host of Island dignitaries will be formally presented to him.

Mr. Masefield -- who comes to the Island from the role of High Commissioner in Lagos, Nigeria -- started his career in the Diplomatic Corps in 1962.

Included in his varied career have been stints as High Commissioner in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, and Second Secretary, Chancery, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

He replaces the previous Governor, former UK Home Secretary Lord Waddington, who retired from public life at the end of April.