Michaela Hollywood

‘He joked about my wheelchair, which was great’

Michaela Hollywood, 30, felt a little nervous when she was invited to St James’s Palace in July 2016 to receive an accolade for her campaigning work on disability rights in Northern Ireland. Ms Hollywood is partially deaf and knew the reception room would be crowded and noisy, so she used a special feature of her wheelchair which elevates her body, putting her at eye-level with those she speaks to.

“It allows me to lip-read,” she explains.

She saw the Duke making his way around the room and he approached with a “twinkle in his eye”. The Duke broke the ice by commenting on the feature of her wheelchair. “Look at your chair, that’s amazing!” he said. Then, he turned to the woman next to Ms Hollywood, who was also in a wheelchair. Hers didn’t have the lip-reading feature. “Don’t you want one of those?” he asked, gesturing at Ms Hollywood’s chair. All three laughed.

Ms Hollywood says many non-disabled people feel awkward when talking to somebody in a wheelchair. “He was natural about it, which was refreshing.”