How I Remember The Queen

 I have two memories of the Queen. The first was her coronation. This was from an early post:

On the day of the Queen's Coronation in June 1953, Dad had the task of judging the best decorated house in the village. I was with him in the van as we toured the village. Did we have our first television by then? We watched the event on a tiny screen somewhere, so we may well have. I was eight years old.

 Then on the 9th June 2008 I posted the following on this Blog:

The day I met the Queen

Ellis Construction had been the main contractors on the refurbishment of St Luke's Hospital for the Clergy on Fitzroy Square. It was different to a normal refurb, more a reconstruction and fit out. The whole building (originally two town houses in 1920) was gutted and left with the original frame and exterior cladding. We found the remnants of what must have been a very early steel frame instead of the expected concrete. Redesign of the structure and the introduction of numerous steel beams and columns to suit the new layout ( and the new top storey that projects above all the other buildings in the square) meant the programme extended from 26 to 39 weeks.

I had the dubious pleasure of explaining all this to the Rev Paul Thomas, who was the client's representative, at a succession of final account meetings. Having been threatened with the intervention Archdeacon Hayward, and possible excommunication, we agreed on a final sum. And I was still invited to the re-opening by the Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh on 8th March 1995.

Architects, other consultants and representatives of the contractors were distributed throughout the building, some were to be met by the Queen and others by the Duke. There were five of us stationed on the second floor landing of the back staircase. The itinerary reads "3.45pm The Queen's Party moves to the rear staircase to the 2nd Floor. Half way up this staircase will be assembled architects, engineers and contractor's management staff."

Approaching the time, an equerry came up the stairs and told us the Queen was near and reminded us the formalities of how to address her. He left and a few minutes later, a smart little old lady, on her own, wandered up to meet us. She was introduced to each us in turn. When it was my turn to shake the Queen's hand, the only recollection of the question she asked and my reply was something about the number of people employed on the project. By this time her party had caught up and they were off up the stairs.

Fifteen minutes later we were in the marquee erected especially on the hospital gardens in the square for the Queen to unveil a plaque. Tea was served and at 4.30 the royal party left. Mike Ellis (the MD) suggested I join him for drink to celebrate, so we grabbed a taxi to central London and found a bar. It had been some day.

The photos above shows St Lukes Hospital where the brand new top story projects far higher than all the other properties on Fitzroy Square. Amazing how the Church of England obtained planning. Well, not really. A photo below of the Queen arriving.

Then in 2009. I remembered that I had also shaken hands with her sister:

Monday, 10 August 2009

The day I met Princess Margaret

I remembered last night that not only had I shaken the hand of the Queen (see posting 9/6/08) but I had also shaken hands with her sister. Just after we moved to London in 1953, when I was eight years old, Princess Margaret was to visit the Royal Albert Hall to accept charitable donations from schools from all over the country. My old school in Alton in Staffordshire proposed that instead of sending one of their own pupils, I might like to go instead. So it was that I joined a long line of children in the underground corridors of the hall, waiting for our turn to climb the steps up and into the blinding light of the auditorium. There we handed to the Princess our envelopes, shook her hand and made our exit. All over in a flash.