I remember that quote.
IMO, the CraigBond-Era-M starts off grumpier and ends up more maternal than the BrosnanBond-Era-M.
Personally, I don´t care whether it´s the same character or not. Whenever one Bond actor goes, it´s all a reset, starting an alternate reality again.
Would we ask ourselves if Lois Maxwell played the some Moneypenny when Connery left, came back, left again?
Was she not recognizing that someone with the code name George Lazenby acted as if he actually had souvenirs from Connery´s missions in his drawer?
And after correcting this mistake in DAF - did she cover for Sir Roger´s behaviour thinking this is James Bond?
Is the whole series, maybe, a flashback from the Moneypenny Diaries, the not so trustworthy memories of a retired secretary who pictured the object of her infatuation in many shapes and forms, just like herself and her superior?