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. == Entitlements and benefits ==