Governor of Pitcairn
The Governor of Pitcairn is the representative of the British monarch in the Pitcairn Islands, the last remaining British Overseas Territory in the Pacific Ocean. Pitcairn has considerable local autonomy, but is under the authority of the colonial governor.
Because of the dependency's small population, the British never considered it worthwhile to station a resident governor on Pitcairn. Instead, the Governor of Fiji doubled as governor of Pitcairn from 1898 onward. When Fiji became independent in 1970, the governorship of Pitcairn was transferred to the British high commissioner to New Zealand. The office is currently held by Laura Clarke.
Throughout most of its history, the authority of the British governor was, in practice, nominal. However, Richard Fell, governor of the Pitcairn Islands between 2001 and 2006, used the authority vested in him to dismiss the mayor Steve Christian, involved in the Pitcairn rape trial of 2004.
