Western Morning News (Saturday)
Former pilot describes honour of jubilee role
ADEVON man who spent a year on secondment from the Royal Air Force at Buckingham Palace has described the late Queen as a “quite remarkable woman”, saying it was an “honour and a privilege” to have served her.
Squadron leader Adam FoxEdwards, a former Tornado fighter pilot who now owns and runs Devon Hampers, based in Lifton, had the specific task of organising the Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2002, and recalls how she had a “radiant smile that would light up a room”.
Serving as Assistant to the Master of the Household, Mr Fox-Edwards helped organise a number of events for Britain’s longest-serving monarch, including at Windsor Castle.
“She had a lovely sense of humour and was very approachable. She made you feel at ease knowing the first time you met her you were going to be feeling uncomfortable and anxious,” he said. “I sat next to her at lunch at Windsor and she couldn’t have been more hospitable and put me at my ease.
“I also remember her encyclopaedic memory. She met thousands of people every year, and yet you could refer to an event or people and she would remember the details. It was really quite extraordinary.”
Mr Fox-Edwards recalls there were a variety of challenges to the role: “It was very much a personal thing, and she very much got involved.”
One set very early on by Her Majesty was to find a new band for her Golden Wedding Celebration Ball at Windsor Castle. The former pilot said: “The Queen felt the band she had at previous events was a little old fashioned and tasked me with finding something a little more lively that the youngsters would enjoy dancing to as much as she would. That was a challenge – me trying to think how on earth would I choose a band suitable for Windsor Castle without telling anyone who it was for, or what it was about!” A band comprising amateur musicians, who worked as estate agents by day, was employed by Mr Fox-Edwards to play in the gallery of the Waterloo Chamber, and turned out to be “jolly good”.
He helped organise five events in all for the Queen, and one was a grand ball at Windsor Castle, which had recently reopened after a devastating fire.
“The Queen was dancing. And I was lucky enough to be dancing on the dance floor near the Queen, and she danced with her handbag, even on the dance floor, even within her own house, and of course we now know what was in that handbag, in case of emergencies at the time.”
He was, of course, referring to the Queen’s memorable sketch with Paddington Bear to celebrate this year’s Platinum Jubilee.
When Mr Fox-Edwards left Buckingham Palace, the Queen gave him a signed photograph of her and the Duke of Edinburgh, and some cufflinks, during an audience in her private sitting room, which he describes as being among his most treasured possessions.
His personal experience with the Queen will endure forever: “The conversations I had with her while organising her events, and just the way she treated everybody the same and made everyone feel comfortable and at ease, while we were of course immensely respectful. It was just the remarkable personality that shone through and it was just an honour to serve her.”
She treated everybody the same and made everyone feel comfortable and at ease ADAM FOX-EDWARDS