THE British Governor of the Falkland Islands during the 1982 Argentine invasion Sir Rex Hunt has died at the age of 86.

He will be remembered for his courage and dignity after Argie troops invaded the South Atlantic territory, the Islands government said.

Sir Rex had earlier been the last British official to leave Saigon when the communist army of North Vietnam stormed into the southern city in 1975.

The Yorkshire-born Foreign Office diplomat took up his Falklands post in 1980 but was as governor by invading Argentinian forces on April 2 1982.

After refusing advice to hide in the hilly hinterland, Sir Rex whose few dozen Marines were heavily outnumbered during a fierce gun battle took the painful decision to surrender.

Honour ... Sir Rex with Baroness Margaret Thatcher in June 2002

But he took one final act of defiance when, dressed in full colonial governor's uniform, he refused to shake hands with invading Argie commander General Oswald Garcia.

The islands were recaptured by British forces on June 14 that year after then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher deployed a hastily-assembled naval taskforce to the scene thousands of miles from Britain.

During the weeks of the war, Sir Rex stayed in London while his wife and children were housed in Kent.

PM David Cameron paid tribute to him, saying he should be a hero to everyone in Britain.

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Wartime Falklands Islands Governor Sir Rex dies at 86