But honorary consuls are not all based in grand buildings with flags flying outside as one might expect.

BBC: The honorary consul who may be down your street

But despite their varied bases, all consuls work to encourage commercial, academic and cultural activities between Wales and the countries they represent.

BBC: The honorary consul who may be down your street

Kindleberger observes in "Reaching for yield"(p. 82), financial history offers many examples of times when falling yields on British consuls and other relatively safe investments generated speculative excess, followed by crash.

FORBES: Side lines

In one scene, as the boater-hatted Stavros awaits his fate on Ellis Island, amid a crush of straining, bewildered faces, Kazan films the immigration officers striding like Roman consuls past the fenced-in throng and into the cavernous great hall.

NEWYORKER: Method Man