Dr Censu Tabone was born in Victoria Gozo on 30th March 1913 and graduated as a Pharmacist and later as a Doctor of Medicine at the University of Malta. In 1946 he proceeded to the U.K. for further training and obtained a diploma in Ophthalmology from the University of Oxford and later he obtained a Diploma in Ophthalmic Medicine and Surgery. He returned to Malta in 1947 and since then he has been engaged in ophthalmic practice and has held senior posts in various hospitals. In 1953 he obtained a Diploma in Medical Jurisprudence of the Society of Apothecaries of London. Dr. Tabone has been active in politics since the early sixties. For ten years, he was Secretary General of the Nationalist Party (NP) and from 1972 to 1977 he was the First Deputy Leader of the NP. Dr Tabone contested the General Elections for the first time in 1962. In 1966 he was elected a Member of Parliament and became Minister of Labour, Employment and Welfare and has been uninterruptedly re-confirmed until the elections of 1987, when he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. He represented the Nationalist Parliamentary Group in the Council of Europe since 1973 and was Party Spokesman on Foreign Affairs since 1978. He was a member of various Council of Europe Committees for several years. On the 16th March 1989, Dr Tabone tendered his resignation and on the 4th April of the same year he was elected by Parliament as the Fourth President of Malta.
Dr. Censu Tabone is married to Maria Wirth and they have eight children.