Hopetoun and his family left Australia from Brisbane on 17 July 1902, at which point Lord Tennyson, Governor of South Australia, took over as Administrator of the Government. Still very popular with the Australian public, there were elaborate and tearful farewell ceremonies in Melbourne and Sydney. Upon Hopetoun's return to Britain, King Edward VII recognised his service by bestowing upon him the title of Marquess of Linlithgow, in the county of Linlithgow or West Lothian, on 23 October 1902. However among observers, and particularly Hopetoun himself, "there was little doubt that he had been less than successful in the great test of his public career".