Volunteer visits Buckingham Palace
Coastguard Riverton president Ross McKenzie was in the company of princes during a recent visit to Buckingham Palace. McKenzie and his wife, Donna, were guests at a special reception at Buckingham Palace, held last month in honour of Coastguard’s patron Prince Charles. Speaking from Russia, McKenzie said there were about 5000 people in attendance at the party in the palace gardens hosted by the royals. They did not get the chance to meet Prince Charles and only saw him through the throngs of people, he said. McKenzie and two other Coastguard volunteers, Mike Purchase and Barry Grouby, were selected to represent Coastguard New Zealand at a function to celebrate the prince’s patronages, charities and military affiliations. As the couple were going to be visiting their son in the UK at the time of the function, they put their names forward and were fortunate enough to be selected, McKenzie said. The atmosphere was like a huge garden wedding, with people very relaxed, McKenzie said. There was a lot of hype around Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, attending the event on the back of their recent wedding, McKenzie said. Prince Harry spoke about the Manchester terror attack victims and the first responders as it was the oneyear anniversary of the concert attack, he said. Shortly after the speech, Harry and Meghan were whisked away and Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, made their way to the royal tea party marquee, McKenzie said. ‘‘This took them about an hour and the crowds were five deep watching them walk the 200 metres.’’ Within the cordoned walk were the victims and first responders from the Manchester attack, who were personally introduced to the royals, McKenzie said. McKenzie, who is a dairy farmer, has been involved with Coastguard since he moved to the Riverton area in 2002. He started as a junior crew member and progressed through training to become a skipper. McKenzie has been on the Coastguard Southern Region Board for five years.