final career posting, he was appointed as the Governor of the Falkland Islands and High Commissioner of the British Antarctic Territory. The UK's sovereignty of the Falkland Islands was contested by Government of Argentina, and with a military dictatorship in place in Buenos Aires, this claim was being asserted with more intent than ever before. Unbeknown to the British Government plans were underway to seize the Islands by force of arms, without a prior declaration of hostilities. In the meantime, Hunt had been dispatched to the Islands as their new Governor, with instructions from the Foreign Office to try, during his tenure administering them, to persuade the recalcitrant islanders that the Islands being moved into an Argentinian governmental sphere of influence, given its geographical proximity compared to that of the United Kingdom, was perhaps in their best long-term interest. Hunt soon discovered that the Falkland Islanders were adamantly opposed to any ceding of their sovereignty in this direction, and he relayed this information back to London; on consideration of the matter arguing that he personally agreed with their views. Hunt's seniors in London did not receive the news well, and concluded that Hunt had "gone native". When government minister Nicholas Ridley attempted in 1980–1981 to negotiate a diplomatic solution to the contested sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, local islands politician Adrian Monk made a broadcast on 2 January 1981 outlining the local population's opposition that Hunt described as "Churchillian". Falklands War On 2 April 1982, under cover of a night approach across the Southern Atlantic Ocean, the Argentine Navy and Argentine Army carried out a seaborne invasion of the Falkland Islands. Hunt made his official residence, Government House in Port Stanley, the operational headquarters for the small Royal Marines garrison on the islands, sending his family and domestic staff away to safer houses. His housekeeper took with her a portrait photograph of the Queen and a bottle of gin. Government House quickly became the scene of a brief battle between the Royal Marines garrison and Argentine commandos. With the British forces facing overwhelming military and logistical odds, Hunt, after an extended exchange of small arms fire, with a handful of casualties, reluctantly gave the order to the Royal Marines to lay down their arms. He then went to Stanley Town Hall, wearing his full dress uniform, complete with medals, gold braid, neck ribbons, sword, sash and plumed cocked hat to