His sudden death raised uncertainty over Hong Kong's political leadership and sent shockwaves through its financial markets.

The Hang Seng Index plunged 60 points, but recovered to close 30 points down before the stock market was closed as a mark of respect.

Sir Edward, a fluent Chinese speaker, personally handled major issues related to the transition of the territory to Beijing rule and his death opened up a leadership vacuum Britain would find hard to fill.

He came to Hong Kong at one of the most difficult periods of the territory's history. He was faced with governing an increasingly jittery city worried about its political future.

Sir Edward became one of the main negotiators on the British side, flying regularly to Beijing. Despite his history of heart illness, he maintained a gruelling work schedule during the two-year negotiations, which ended with the signing of the Joint Declaration in December 1984. He made 28 official trips to Beijing and 22 trips to London.

Sir Edward had long been described by Beijing officials as 'a good friend of the Chinese people'. His Chinese name Yau Tak, meaning 'abundant virtue', was said to have been coined by late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping in 1948 when Sir Edward was the third secretary in Britain's Nanjing embassy.

He served four tours of duty in China, the last as ambassador from 1974-78.

Lady Youde, who was in Xian when Sir Edward died, returned to Hong Kong with his body the day after his death.

His body lay in state at Government House until the funeral.

Thousands of people - from the very old to the very young - waited up to four hours to pay their final respects to the quiet spoken Welshman many felt had given his life in the service of Hong Kong.

One captured the mood of the crowd when she said: 'He was Hong Kong's man, a great man and our national leader. I had never met him, but I believe he did a lot of good things for Hong Kong.'

Sir Edward was given Hong Kong's first state funeral. It began with a fly-past by three military helicopters sweeping over Central.

The band of the Royal Hong Kong Police struck up the national anthem as Sir Edward's coffin was carried out of Government House on the shoulders of 10 soldiers of the Coldstream Guards.

The coffin was placed on a specially converted army vehicle bearing the governor's insignia before being escorted in solemn procession to St John's Cathedral for a 30-minute service.

The procession was punctuated by a 17-gun salute fired from HMS Tamar - the first going off the moment Sir Edward's coffin emerged from Government House, with the others following at one-minute intervals.

After the church service, a small party of family and close friends went from the cathedral to Cape Collinson for the private cremation.

Immediately following the announcement of Sir Edward's death, the search began in earnest for his successor.

Toping the list of possibilities was David Wilson, 51, who later succeeded Sir Edward. Sir David, who was knighted before returning to Hong Kong as governor, was a former Hong Kong political adviser. He was intimately involved in the 1997 talks.

Chief Secretary Sir David Akers-Jones took over as acting governor while the British government decided on a successor to Sir Edward.