Diplomatic illness is the practice amongstdiplomats andgovernment ministers of feigningillness, or another debilitating condition, to avoid engaging in diplomatic or social engagements.^[1] The excuse of ill-health is designed to avoid formally offending the host or other parties.^[2][3] The term also refers to the period during which the "diplomatic illness" is claimed to persist.

• GeneralJohn J. Pershing, on his return in 1926 from unsuccessful negotiations among Peru, Bolivia and Chile and suffering from ill-health, was stated by his critics to have a "diplomatic illness".^[4]
• During the Communist takeover inCzechoslovakia in 1948, foreign ministerJan Masaryk was thought to have a "diplomatic illness", as he stayed out of touch with many of his former foreign contacts.^[5]
• A temporary absence ofBosnian Serb leaderRatko Mladic, at a time in 1995 when Bosnian Serb forces were withdrawing near Sarajevo under an agreement withNATO, was ascribed by some sources to "diplomatic illness".^[6]
• Boris Yeltsin, the then leader of theRussian Federation, was sometimes claimed to be invoking "diplomatic illness". One occasion was in 1994 on the outbreak of theFirst Chechen War;^[7] another coincided with a 1998 summit meeting of theCommonwealth of Independent States,^[8] and another was in 1999 when he was due to sign a treaty withBelarusian leaderAlexander Lukashenko.^[9] The allegations were dubious, as Yeltsin suffered from repeated genuine bouts of ill-health.^[9]
• Polish leaderLech Kaczyńskicited illness to avoid aWeimar Triangle meeting in the wake of a diplomatic dispute withGermany in 2006.^[10]

• William Gladstone referred to a "diplomatic cold" as an alternative to declining a social engagement outright.^[7]
• Neville Chamberlain is reported to have contracted "diplomatic gout" in 1938.^[7]
• Polite fiction

• Diplomacy
• Human diseases and disorders
• Geopolitical terminology

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