(1) During any period when the office of Governor General is vacant or the holder of the office of Governor General is absent from Saint Lucia or is for any other reason unable to perform the functions of his or her office those functions shall be performed by such person as Her Majesty may appoint.
(2) Any such person as aforesaid shall not continue to perform the functions of the office of Governor General if the holder of the office of Governor General or some other person having a prior right to perform the functions of that office has notified him or her that he or she is about to assume or resume those functions.
(3) The holder of the office of Governor General shall not, for the purposes of this section, be regarded as absent from Saint Lucia or as unable to perform the functions of his or her office—
(a) by reason that he or she is in passage from one part of Saint Lucia to another; or
(b) at any time when there is a subsisting appointment of a deputy under section 22.