Sorry Joseph…
I don’t agree with you about Consuls (and I was not talking about ‘Honorary’ ones). For many years my Israeli cousin was the Consul for a Central American country. While he was still active in business a room in his Tel Aviv offices functioned as the Consulate. After his retirement, there was a plaque on his Herzylia Pituach home stating Consulado de XXXXXX. He issued travel Visas for Israelis traveling to that country and promoted tourism and business.
In the 1980s I was the Consul General for a small European country in one Connecticut city where I had both a factory with many of their citizens as employees and several retail establishments.
There are career diplomats below the rank of Ambassador with the title of Consul representing some countries, but small countries find it far more cost effective to appoint citizens of the country they wish to be represented in to handle these part time duties.
My cousin in Israel loved the position which he held for more than 30 years because he and his wife got diplomatic passports, ‘CC’ plates for their cars and the ability to purchase most things without import duty or VAT.