The rigid rules of international protocol are a prickly maze of diplomatic niceties traced back to the royal courts of medieval Europe. To find your way unerringly through this intricate system usually calls for intense study and an apprenticeship lasting years. Lillian Wong Tai Wai-yin had 19 days.
When she was named director of protocol last June, the civil service executive officer was whisked out of Treasury at short notice. As Hong Kong changed sovereignty on July 1, the experienced Vivian Warrington, OBE, departed. He had been director of protocol for a decade, a kindly, courtly and widely admired man with the aplomb of a senior ambassador.
How on earth was a public servant with no prior knowledge of these rarefied skills supposed to instantly replace him? Those who favour the conspiracy theory of history believe the devious British deliberately left the selection of a new chief of official etiquette until the last minute, so the incoming SAR would be born with an embarrassing social gap.
Not so. As usual, it was a gaffe rather than a plot. The former administration had advertised widely both within the civil service and the business world for a new director of protocol.
When it found no one suitable, the Government turned, in the dying gasp of British rule, to the 45-year-old principal executive officer, Ms Wong.
Not surprisingly, there was criticism about the appointment. She had no experience, some complained. True, and Ms Wong is the first to admit it. 'I had no background at all in protocol,' she says.