SHE would certainly not have been amused. The 12 foot bronze statue of Queen Victoria which stands, or rather sits, imperiously at the entrance to Hong Kong's Victoria Park, was found yesterday covered with red paint from crown to toe. And for good measure her assailant had climbed a ladder and hit her on the nose with a 5kg hammer.
As a portent of things to come, the act of vandalism had a manifest symbolism. In less than a year, China takes over the British colony, which was seized by the forces of the I 9th century British queen 150 years ago so the regal statue will find itself under communist administration.
That is, if she is still there and doesn't end up in Australia the fate of the remarkably similar looking Queen Victoria with large bosom and orb in hand which used to grace the pedestal outside Leinster House in Dublin until Britain withdrew its forces from the city in 1921.
The Hong Kong Queen Victoria is now hidden behind scaffolding while the Architectural Services Department decides what to do with her.
Already many of the trappings of British rule are disappearing from Hong Kong. At the end of this month, the First Battalion of the Royal Gurkha Rifles will end its weekly guard changing ceremony in preparation for its departure in November.
The last Liberation Day ceremony, commemorating the end of the Japanese occupation during the second World War, took place in August. Next year it will be a Chinese public holiday, to be called Sino Japan War Victory Day, with the People's Liberation Army in place of the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force.
While the British military presence is reduced to a shadow of its former self, the servants of the British crown are making plans to show the flag before their withdrawal from the colony at midnight on June 30th of next year.
The British Defence Secretary, Mr Michael Portillo, who was in Hong Kong last week, said Britain would send a substantial naval force into Asian waters in April and May. An aircraft carrier, an assault ship, two destroyers, a submarine, five attack aircraft, five fighters, an AWACS radar aircraft and two maritime patrol jets would take part in war games off Malaysia.
Despite the withdrawal from Hong Kong, Britain still wanted to be taken seriously in regional defence arrangements, such as the Five Power group involving Britain, Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore, Mr Portillo said.
Regarding Hong Kong, he remarked. "There are still a lot of British people there. There will still be a lot of British investments."
After a visit to Beijing by the British Foreign Office minister, Mr Jeremy Hanley, last week, Britain and China appear close to a breakthrough on the details of a joint hand over ceremony for June. 30th of next year.
Meanwhile, a 27 year old artist from China, Mr Poon Sing-lui, has been arrested in Hong Kong for painting Queen Victoria's statue. A recent immigrant to Hong Kong, Mr Sing-lui said the colour had been chosen not for its communist associations.
It originates from my hot and restless blood," he told the South China Morning Post before being sent to hospital for a medical examination.