The Book Connection
IMAGINE if Prince Harry had gone to Bathurst instead of Dubbo?
It would have been the biggest two weeks in that city’s history, with the Bathurst 1000 Motor Race weekend one of the two largest drawcards west of the mountains, the other being Tamworth’s Country Music Festival.
Police put enormous amounts of resources into planning for these types of events, and often it’s work that goes unnoticed if everything, or most things, run smoothly – but if something goes wrong, if the most minor of safety detail is overlooked or bungled, then look out.
The blame would sheet home like a wildfire from the operational cop on the ground who may have stuffed up, right through the police force hierarchy to Dubbo MP Troy Grant who doubles as police minister.
And if it’s a huge stuff-up, it would also reflect on the premier and government as a whole.
So it pays to get that planning done right at the start.
It’s the same for Dubbo’s impending royal visit of Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex. Attention to the minutest details is the order of the day, although there’s an incredible
Lightning zaps radio tower:
secrecy surrounding the whole operation for security reasons.
Kensington Palace, where the tour itineraries are ironed out, is notoriously secretive when it comes to revealing any details of these trips, so I’ve had to cobble together bits and pieces of generalist thoughts about the tour planning from various sources, as well as the local grapevine.
Rumours abound in Dubbo that secret squirrel operatives are already here checking out hidey holes and security risks at all the venues the royal couple will be attending, and this started weeks ago.
Travel times are measured to the second, which is much easier than for normal mortals plotting their trips because the royals are able to get any and all roads blocked off.
It’s not just about getting the timing, etiquette and cultural sensitivities right, the planners also have to ensure that, in this case, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry simply must be transported safely from A to B.
I’ve seen some reports that the royals often use fake names for bookings, or in phone calls or emails detailing their movements, all in a bid to prevent any leaks.
Just as Australian consular staff on their way to trouble-spots around the globe receive anti-terrorist training, so too have the royal couple undergone training. It’s been reported that Meghan has more recently been put through a course at the SAS “Killing House” in Herefordshire, where they stage live scenarios such as hostage rescue situations.
So now the big question will be how many of the Queen’s tactics will Meghan make use of, especially when it comes to handbag options.
The royal handbag can be used to signal staff: for instance if a former Dubbo luminary attached himself to Meghan and became annoying, she may place her handbag on the ground, a signal to her staff that she wants to be rescued.
It’d be easier to ignore the public and mingle from afar, but the royal family has an ethos of getting amongst their adoring public.
Meghan may not be getting behind the wheel of the mayor’s car, but if she did royal sources say it’s likely she’d have been trained in defensive driving skills – what a shame she
Life member:
Congratulations to Michael Cox on being awarded life member of the Dripstone Brigade by Supt Lyndon Wieland at the Wellington Captains meeting. That’s an awful lot of community hours given by Michael over his lifetime of service to the community, a great effort. PHOTO: SUPPLIED. didn’t get the chance to display her skills at Bathurst last weekend.
Planners will know where the local police station is, the hospital, helipad, and so on, and no doubt there’ll be a chopper warmed up and ready to become light on the skids if need be.
Before they arrive in Dubbo the royals will have gone through the tour itinerary so they’ll always know in advance exactly what’s going on.
By this stage I’m starting to feel pretty sorry for them.
Wardrobe is incredibly important with the eyes of the world on them, and culturally, climatically appropriate clothing will be on hand, with the royals apparently changing out of their travelling clothes into the formal engagement outfits at the last minute to avoid wrinkling or spills.
Well done to the police and other emergency services agencies who’ll be working right up until the tour’s end to ensure it’s safe and successful. There’ll no doubt be plenty of relieved police after getting through the Bathurst weekend – hopefully they’ll be able to say the same after the Dubbo royal visit is done and dusted. I WAS burning the post-midnight oil at my computer on Tuesday morning when I saw a mate posted on Facebook saying that his daily driver XY classic Ford had been stolen at around 12.30am.
He went out giving chase, he’d turn his engine off and could hear the alleged thieves doing burnouts so he headed to the source of the sound.
One friend who replied said she’d called the police to let them know it was doing burnouts in the Apollo Estate and they arrived in time to corner it in a cul de sac, with the owner convinced that quick public-police response was the only thing that prevented it from being torched.
There’s apparently about $2000 worth of obvious damage and the rear tyres were shredded – this car is a pretty powerful “sleeper”, so it would’ve had no trouble doing burnouts at will.
Now, hopefully, the motor hasn’t been cooked.
But well done to all concerned, to retrieve the car in about 30 minutes is an amazing effort.
zSend your news tips to
john.ryan@panscott.com.au or 0429 452 245 txt is best