and I would like to share with all of you something about that. I believe it says a great deal about a man who was always there for the Queen. It was not an easy role to play.
I met him twice - both times by accident. On the first occasion he was opening a new centre for the profoundly intellectually retarded. Weeks of work had gone into preparing for his visit. It had been decided that the children should be lined up to listen to his speech. This was always going to be awkward and particularly awkward for me.
I had a child in my class who was a "runner". We had to keep the classroom door on a latch he could not reach so he could not leave the room. I was worried about having him at the ceremony. I offered to stay with him in the classroom. The headmaster decided otherwise. M... and I would attend the ceremony. One of the teacher aides was supposed to have firm hold of him while Prince Philip was speaking.
The inevitable happened. M... managed to slip out of the aide's grasp and ran right across in front of the Duke. I tried to grab him of course but he was off - and I was on the ground. The Duke stopped speaking and laughed. He cut short what he had to say and came to ask if I was all right. Someone else had gone chasing M....
Fast forward almost fourteen years. I was back at university doing some research. The Duke was coming to open a conference that had nothing to do with me. There was the usual fuss about preparation and someone had said,
"Cat, can you park your bike inside please so it won't be in the way when the Duke comes."
I did that. The weather was atrocious, not even the best of umbrellas was going to stop the Duke getting wet on the proposed route. What did they do? They changed the route to another entrance - and had to go past my bike. I was in the library.
"Cat, can you please come downstairs. The Duke wants to talk to you about your bike," came the message.
"Don't be stupid."
"I am not being stupid. The Duke wants to talk to you. This is..."
And there was one of the retinue looking a bit anxious. I went down disbelievingly with both these people. I did not mention my previous encounter. After all the Duke was not going to remember that was he? And yes, the Duke was there. He had my bike/trike on one side and was looking at it with more than a passing interest.
He rose to meet me. The aide started to speak but the Duke got in first and said, "Gave up trying to chase the little devil did you?"
He explained to those standing around that he had seen me before and where it was. The name of the place eluded him but he knew the purpose of it and what had happened.
How many of us would remember a chance encounter from all those years before? We had a short but friendly chat. He asked what I was doing there, shook my hand and wished me well before going to open yet another conference. He was a few minutes late for that - but I hope they were minutes well spent.
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7 comments:
Thank you for this, we only ever get told of bad things in the news and QE II has loved him so long, there had to be to him than what we’re told.
To everyone else who reads this - it IS TRUE. I was there when it happened. It left everyone else, apart from HRH and Cat, absolutely speechless. The two of them ended up chatting like old friends for a couple of minutes before he had to go and open an engineering conference. Chris
OH worked for a man who was into carriage driving, as was HRH. Going to a competition in the far north, OH's boss would fly there and leave the grooms to get the horses and equipment there in the enormous articulated vehicle. Halfway there, in a layby, they would see HRH's transport, taking a break, and HRH would be there with his Range Rover, with the barbecue out, cooking a full English breakfast for everyone.
Thanks for this lovely story, Cat.
I well believe that Jean! Apparently HRH was an excellent cook. There were many BBQ type picnics at Balmoral where he apparently expertly wielded the long fork!
Got to come back to you on that - a chap we knew went to a shoot at Sandringham, as loader to his boss. Spent the night in the servants' quarters with others on the same mission, and came down to the kitchen as instructed, for breakfast, and a voice from the stove asked "How many rashers, and eggs?" HRH was making sure the servants were properly cooked for.
I can well believe that one Jean.
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