Former Governor Chris Patten is being urged by his wife to stay out of politics following the battering he received from critics during his five years in Hong Kong.
Mr Patten has admitted he is considering returning to public life and is understood to be under consideration for a senior position in the European Union.
But Lavender Patten is said to be encouraging him to pursue his new career as a writer and broadcaster.
'Quite frankly I fear for our family life if Chris pursues a political career,' Mrs Patten was quoted as telling the Sunday Telegraph.
'Politics is littered with the wives and children left behind - and we have such a wonderful life together that I don't want it put at risk.' She accompanied her husband on his tour of Asia to promote his book East and West but has not joined him in Northern Ireland where he is chairing a commission set up to reform the province's police force.
Mrs Patten has supported her husband throughout his political career including campaigning in his Bath constituency while he stayed in London running the Conservative Party's campaign in the 1992 general election.