There’s a desperate need, it seems, for an official Vice Regal Etiquette Manual.

But not one about how we should behave in the presence of a viceroy. Rather, a manual about how viceroys should behave, especially when they are appointed. More specifically what they should not say when appointed.

Frankly, it would be better if some of them said nothing and just smiled viceregally…

The basic rule is not to make political comments, not to be divisive, and to have no other agenda than to act as a worthy representative of and be a local version of the constitutional monarch.

These are presumably intelligent...