Memories of royal exposure

Having the young royals in town has reminded me of the times I have had exposure to our Royal Family over the years.

My mother took us to see the Queen at Empire Stadium when we were very young. The Queen was in an open carriage and we could see her very clearly. When she was at Twin Islands, we were on Savary Island and saw the seaplanes come and go.

Another time we were only five feet or so away from Diana and Charles at the convention centre in Vancouver during Expo ’86.

My best experience was when my friend and I were hitchhiking around Great Britain in 1970 and stopped in to Glamis Castle, inspired by our English teacher who made us learn the soliloquy about Glamis from a Shakespeare play. It was the Bowes Lyon childhood home of the Queen Mother.

It was closed to tourists that day but the chauffeur was in the post office and we met him. He took us on a tour of Glamis Castle, we had lunch in the huge kitchen and then he asked if we would be available to come back two weeks later to cook for the Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, because the cook had to be away.

My friend was dubious but I thought it would be great! We went back and were met at the train in Edinburgh with the Rolls Royce, driven to the castle and shown to a magnificent room. I have lots of pictures to prove this!

The earl’s wife had died and was thought to be a ghost called the Grey Lady but we never saw her. The earl had a study and dining room on the same floor as our room and we had to serve him breakfast, lunch and dinner for two days. I think the poor man nearly starved to death. I had never cooked a steak and kidney pie in my life and did not know the kidneys had to be parboiled.

Barbara Graham Saanich