Metreweli will assume office as the spy agency's 18th chief, taking over from Richard Moore, who held the job for five years. She has been an intelligence officer since 1999.

A former “Q,” she will be the first woman to lead Britain’s foreign intelligence service in the agency’s 116-year history.

In historic first, Blaise Metreweli becomes the first woman to lead Britain's spy agency MI6. It has been 100 years since MI6 had been established, while UK's other sister spy agencies have had women as leader,