Meeting the Queen

I had the honour of meeting Her Majesty the Queen in 2004 when I was the mayor of Reigate and Banstead and the Queen visited The Children’s Trust at Tadworth.

With the other Surrey Mayors, we then had lunch with the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at Denbies Wine Estate.

A particular memory of the luncheon was the late Lady Farnham, the Queen’s lady-in-waiting, telling me that she never managed to eat a pudding when escorting the Queen.

This was because no one started eating until the Queen started eating and the royal entourage stopped eating when the Queen signalled her luncheon was over by removing her glasses.

I called the waiters over and did my best for Lady Farnham, but once again Royal protocol defeated her attempts at a pudding.

The occasion revealed other insights, but sometimes discretion is the better part of valour. Cllr Philip Circus West Chiltington, Thakeham and Ashington, Horsham District Council