Unusually, he also held the post of Her Majesty's Vice-Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps, from 1991 to 1996, when he became Her Britannic Majesty's Ambassador to Austria.
He returned to Madrid in 1979, initially as Head of Chancery and then as Commercial Counsellor from 1980 to 1982. Figgis was assigned to Belgrade again in 1982, when he was made Counsellor, a post he held until 1985.
From 1986 to 1988, Figgis was Head of the East European Department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He was then Counsellor and Head of Chancery in Bonn from 1988 to 1989.
He was subsequently Director of Research, and then of Research and Analysis, at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 1989 to 1991.
From 1991 to 1996, Figgis was Assistant Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Her Majesty's Vice-Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps.