WITH proper colonial deference, we start with news of our visiting royal, Princess Alexandra.
Her Highness is here to help the Royal Hong Kong Police celebrate their 150th anniversary in due splendour. So the police guard at the front gate of Government House has been decked out in full white dress uniform for the duration of her stay and stands to attention with fixed bayonets at the ready. And while the gubernatorial black Daimler normally slips in and out of the gates with barely a salute from the attendant copper, the Royal-Rolls has been swishing around town with a police motorcade of white staff cars and motorbike outriders.
But with all the police attention, it seems the Princess hasn't been listening too attentively to her Government House host. At a reception held in her honour by British Senior Trade Commissioner Francis Cornish the other night, the royal visitor was wandering around asking guests if it was true Chris Patten was about to return to London.
The Governor always says he plans to stay to 1997. Either Her Highness wasn't listening, or she didn't believe him. ONE man who has been listening is Anthony Howard, the Obituaries Editor of the The Times, who admits he came to Hong Kong with a proprietorial eye on the Governor's health.
'But if I came here thinking he was on his last legs, I found him, as I found Hong Kong, vibrant and virile,' Howard told us, with barely a hint of undertakerly disappointment. 'He's looking in fine shape. I was surprised how robust he was.' Also a seasoned political commentator, however, the British journalist had an equally keen interest in the Governor's political health. He came out believing the Governor was indeed about to head back to London. Howard even had a parliamentary by-election lined up for him in Chelsea, one of the Tories' safest seats. The incumbent, Nicholas Scott, has resigned from his ministerial job under a cloud. He might be persuaded to step aside so Chris Patten could return triumphant, save John Major from his right wing, and take over from Douglas Hurd who wants to retire as Foreign Secretary.
But after a meeting with Mr Patten this week, Howard has been convinced no such plans are afoot.
'I felt, come what may, his mind was made up. He'll stay to the end.' What seemed to clinch the matter was the time still being devoted to the BBC's documentary on the Governor's final 1,000 days.
