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27.
I have been greatly privileged to be Governor of Hong Kong at an important stage in its history. Equally, I have been privileged to be a member of the Diplomatic Service which has treated me with a benevolence that has enabled me to leave for six years, and then return to pursue an atypical career as Asia-centred as I would have wished, and not involving any service in an embassy for the past 30 years. Throughout this unorthodox career I have been immensely impressed by the talent and unstinting cheerfulness of those who choose to spend their lives in this form of public service. Perhaps the Service takes up too much of the national pool of talent. That makes it a very pleasant and rewarding place to work. It also means that seeing something of life outside is a healthy antidote. I have been grateful for the
chance to do that. Such cross-fertilisation between the Service and the ordinary world can, I believe, do good to both.
28. During my past five years in Hong Kong I have been fortunate indeed to have the support of a Civil Service which has worked with intense effort despite all the problems which have faced the territory and, for many, uncertainty about their own futures. The Department and the Peking Embassy have also been notable for consistently high standards of effort on behalf of Hong Kong.
Their work deserves to be publicly recognised.
29. Throughout, I have been grateful for tremendous support from my family. My wife, Natasha, has done a full-time job in Hong Kong looking after Government House and playing a significant role in many parts of the community, as well as helping me greatly in my own tasks both here and on visits to promote the Hong Kong cause
elsewhere. She has had to put her own successful career on ice in order to do this. My two sons have provided cheerful, and consistently sane, advice on a variety of subjects in a way which has helped to keep Government House a home as well as an official residence. As I leave the Diplomatic Service, one son joins. I wish him and the Service well. I hope to see this small family continuity mirrored in years to come by continuity in Hong Kong of the energy, perseverance and dynamic capitalism that has made this territory one of the success stories of Asia.