Sir Richard Gozney has put his diplomatic experience to good use in the last five years.

Few Lieutenant Governors in recent memory have managed a busier diary, or thrown themselves into Manx life with such enthusiasm.

’When I think back what surprised me, and impressed me, was the degree to which the island reflects a distinctive identity,’ he told the Examiner.

’There is a Manx identity. It’s not purely Manx men and women, it’s the long-term comeovers as well.

’Despite this mixture of where people originated, there is a sense of identity and a very quiet, low-key pride in it.’

Sir Richard applied for the job after a career in the British diplomatic service, with appointments in Swaziland, Indonesia, Nigeria and Bermuda.

’The Lieutenant Governor here, as in Jersey and Guernsey, is not an agent of the British Government,’ he explained.

’The appointment is by the Queen but solely as her representative, because all business with the British Government is done by the Isle of Man Government.

’And that is a very big difference with what happens elsewhere. It’s rather fun, I’m back in public life but without having to send reports to the British Government.’

Once all-powerful but now largely ceremonial, the job of a modern governor is to get involved in Manx life, whether as guest of honour at events around the island or hosting an endless series of receptions, dinners, lunches and meetings in Government House.

’A large part of the day, or evening or weekend, is taken up with going out to things where people want to see the representative of the Queen there,’ he said. ’That’s the meat of it. It’s all about turning out.’

And turn out he has. He reels off so many events, names and places that you’d be forgiven for thinking that he and his wife, Lady Diana Gozney, had been here for decades.

Lady Gozney has been a regular at Albany Tennis Club and Peel Golf Club and recently rode a lap of the TT course on the back of a motorcycle ridden by David Cretney. She also joined her husband on an adventure in Bradda mines, which Sir Richard said is one of the biggest highlights of his tenure.

Other memorable moments included the visit of Prince William in 2018, during the TT races, when he met fans in Noble’s Park: ’Their reaction to him, and his reaction to them, was quite magical,’ Sir Richard said. This year the team at Government House delivered the first Royal Tynwald in 13 years, with Princess Anne presiding over the ceremony.

In March 2020, at the request of the Council of Ministers, Sir Richard became the first Governor since the Second World War to proclaim a state of emergency in the island - this time in response to Covid-19.

’Last spring it was the only legal way, it was decided, for the Isle of Man to do what it wanted, particularly on border restrictions,’ he said.

New regulations from CoMin were brought into force with his approval, though Tynwald could amend them afterwards. The proclamation was a once-in-a-lifetime event which, thanks to updated legislation, will not be repeated.

Dealing with the unexpected, though, is the job of a career diplomat: ’Diplomacy is not just about passing around gin and tonics. Things happen, and sometimes they are ghastly things.’

Sir Richard was the British Ambassador in Indonesia in 2002, when two nightclubs in Bali were bombed. Among the 202 people killed were 28 Britons, most of them young tourists. The embassy spent weeks helping bereaved parents who had travelled to bring home the bodies of their children.

Covid was different, he said, because it didn’t involve the same kind of face-to-face anguish: ’I was affected, like everyone, by Abbotswood, though there was nothing I could usefully do except play a small part in getting those regulations through as quickly as possible.

’But I felt the toughness of that, even though I didn’t know anyone who died.’

The crisis also demonstrated the (perhaps underrated) virtue of having a unifying figure in public life who can keep politics out of the mix entirely.

Sir Richard joined the Chief Minister at the podium when the island’s first Covid-19 death was announced. ’It was a sign of what Government House can do, in some ways it can represent the wider Isle of Man. It’s not an alternative to government, but it can be a little wider,’ he said.

He paid tribute to the countless volunteers who form the backbone of sports clubs, cadet forces, charitable causes and performing arts projects across the island: ’The result is performances in the Gaiety that are of West End standard - and I mean that,’ he said. ’Somebody is putting in a lot of hours in the evenings to make that happen, and that is considered to be totally natural.

’I can’t imagine many places in the British Isles where that many people would pitch in.’

It’s another aspect of the sense of Manx identity which keeps cropping up: ’I think it breeds a sort of quiet self-confidence, of people feeling comfortable in their own skins, which makes it much easier for them to welcome outsiders,’ Sir Richard said. ’Whether they’re motorcyclists who come over for a couple of weeks, or people like us who stay for five years.’

His favourite example is Scottish-born Steve Rodan, who came to the island in 1987, started as a Laxey commissioner and has just retired after five years serving as President of Tynwald, capping almost three decades in Manx politics. ’I think that says quite a lot about the place,’ Sir Richard said. ’And yet Steve is no less Scottish for being quite Manx.’

Although he plays no role in government, = Sir Richard noted that there are some ’colonial connotations’ inherent in maintaining a Government House.

But almost everything about the role - the title, the house, and the individual - is effectively in the hands of elected Manx officials. The Chief Minister, First Deemster and President of Tynwald form the panel which recruits the island’s new governor every five years.

The position is advertised like any other job and the panel’s final choice is recommended to the Queen. It’s a Crown appointment but a Manx process and the choice of candidate is theirs.

There is no intrinsic reason, Sir Richard said, why a governor couldn’t be Manx-born, a woman, a person of colour, or all three: ’I don’t know if there were any women candidates this time, but it will happen.’ He pointed to the example set by one of his former posts: ’Bermuda, which had never had anything other than a white male governor, now has a black British woman who was a senior official in the British Treasury.’ Her Excellency Rena Lalgie was sworn in as Governor of Bermuda in December 2020.

Friday will be Sir Richard’s last day in office, after which he and Lady Gozney are returning to their family home in Norfolk. The couple have two sons and they are expecting their first grandchild in November.

The island’s new governor, Lieutenant General Sir John Lorimer, will be sworn in at Castle Rushen on September 29.

Sir Richard extended a particular thank you to the staff at Government House, and said:

’Thanks to the whole island community for making us as welcome as they have, and for showing what I describe as that quiet, low-key self-confidence - that mixture of Manxies and comeovers merging together to create an identity - manifesting itself in a genuinely warm welcome to people such as us,’ he said.’We’ve enjoyed every month of the five years that we’ve been here.’