page_title: Governor of Hong Kong
section_title: The governor
hierarchical_section_title: Governor of Hong Kong / The governor
caption_attribution_description: English: 香港歷史博物館, Hong Kong Museum of History - 尤德爵士官方禮服
context_page_description: The Governor of Hong Kong was the representative in Hong Kong of the British Crown from 1843 to 1997. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council and Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces Overseas Hong Kong. The governor's roles were defined in the Hong Kong Letters Patent and Royal Instructions. Upon the end of British rule and the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997, most of the civil functions of this office went to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, and military functions went to the Commander of the People's Liberation Army Hong Kong Garrison.
context_section_description: Authorities and duties of the governor were defined in the Hong Kong Letters Patent and Royal Instructions in 1843. The governor, appointed by the British monarch (on the advice of the Foreign Secretary), exercised the executive branch of the Government of Hong Kong throughout British sovereignty and, with the exception of a brief experiment after World War II, no serious attempt was made to introduce representative government, until the final years of British rule.
  The Governor of Hong Kong chaired the colonial cabinet, the Executive Council (ExCo), and, until 1993, was also the President of the Legislative Council. The governor appointed most, if not all, of the members of the colony's legislature (known colloquially as LegCo), which was largely an advisory body until the first indirect election to LegCo was held in 1985. Initially, both Councils were dominated by British expatriates, but this progressively gave way to local Hong Kong Chinese appointees in later years. Historically, the Governors of Hong Kong were either professional diplomats or senior colonial officials, except for the last governor, Chris Patten, who was a career politician. 
  In December 1996, the governor's salary was HK$3,036,000 per annum, tax-free. It was fixed at 125% of the Chief Secretary's salary.
  In the absence of the governor, the chief secretary immediately became the acting governor of the colony.  The chief secretaries were historically drawn from the Colonial Office or British military. One Royal Navy Vice Admiral served as administrator after World War II. Four Japanese military officers (three Army officers and one naval Vice Admiral) served as administrators during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong in World War II.
caption: Uniform of the governor
exif: {"Image Make": "CASIO COMPUTER CO.,LTD.", "Image Model": "EX-Z60", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "1.00", "Image DateTime": "2008:08:27 15:16:27", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "398", "Image CustomRendered": "Normal", "Image ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "Image WhiteBalance": "Auto", "Image DigitalZoomRatio": "0/0", "Image FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "51", "Image SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "Image GainControl": "High gain up", "Image Contrast": "Normal", "Image Saturation": "Normal", "Image Sharpness": "Normal", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 0, 5, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, 22, 0, 2, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 5, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 16, 128, 0, 0, 0]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "22764", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7473", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/50", "EXIF FNumber": "18/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:08:27 15:16:27", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:08:27 15:16:27", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "624/125", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "33/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "211/25", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1200", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1600", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera"}