Britain's top diplomats are showing solidarity with transgender staff by always declaring their preferred pronouns in emails and even using the gender neutral 'zie'.

The Foreign Office bosses are signalling their gender by writing 'he' or 'she' at the end of an email so their recipients know how to refer to them.

In place of the masculine or feminine pronoun, others have been using the gender neutral term 'zie', according to The Telegraph.

Diplomats at the Foreign Office are specifying their gender on their emails and some are even using the gender neutral term 'zie' as a show of solidarity with transgender staff (stock image)

The move has been adopted by diplomats at the highest level of the Foreign Office (pictured) and was suggested by staff intending to make transgender employees feel 'more comfortable'

The term is preferred by many allies and members of the LGBT+ community as it eradicates the presumption of another person's gender, particularly those who identify as non-binary.

The move has been adopted by diplomats at the highest level and was suggested by staff intending to make transgender employees feel 'more comfortable'.

A source from the Foreign Office said: 'It was suggested by LGBT members of staff that this was something we should do.

'It's been quite widely taken up across the board, from junior members of staff to senior leadership and at the diplomatic level.'

The move comes as the Foreign Office attempts to shed its image of being solely populated by older, middle-aged straight white men.

New Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will take over the service which is trying to shed its former image

Homosexuality was even seen as a 'character defect' and grounds for dismissal until 1991.

The idea for the declaration of pronouns appears to have come from FLAGG, the Foreign Office's Lesbian and Gay Group, which is co-sponsored by Lindsay Skoll, Britain's deputy head of mission in Moscow.

There are 14,000 people employed by the Foreign Office around the world and three are known to have changed their gender while working for the service.

It comes amid a wave of measures hoping to make the trans community feel more supported.

Earlier this week, the Ministry of Justice said prison officers could be reprimanded if they didn't call transgender prisoners by their preferred choice of pronoun.

A transgender receptionist at the Foreign Office, Zelda de Louarn, 31, said the service have supported her through her transition.

A transgender receptionist at the Foreign Office, Zelda de Louarn, 31, said the service have supported her through her transition

She said she has to deal with many foreign ambassadors and dignitaries of countries where trans people are not welcome.

The receptionist told The i: 'You have to take into consideration that in some of these countries, what I am serves a death penalty.

'I take pride in what I do because, yeah, you may be from a country where I would have had my head chopped off by now.

'And, if you're uncomfortable with it – tough.'