A Right Royal Mess

I had a wry smile to myself today as I read Tariq Tahir's article in the THES, 'The Queen for a Day'.

Reading others' experiences of hosting a royal visit took me back a few years to a former role at the University of Warwick. It's not quite to the scale of Joan Concannon's experience at the University of Dundee, but I'll share my experience anyway ...

Event management was a fairly significant part of my job back then when the Communications Office started receiving calls from the West Midlands High Sheriff's office telling us that the Duke of York would be visiting the University in a few weeks time. Initial reaction seemed to be that this was a hoax. Several calls later everyone began to accept that this was for real and that His Highness would be dropping by for a visit to the University's Science Park. I was quickly drafted onto the organising committee for what was perhaps the most surreal event that I had been involved in organising. Firstly there was the security and deciding where on earth his helicopter should land. Then there was the route, working out which doors to take and timing the visit down to every last second. Then there was the brash academic who needed to be involved in the programme but steadfastly refused to alter his schedule to suit the visit (firm words from the powers-that-be put paid to that). Then, of course, crucially there was the catering (he was stopping in for lunch): a specific brand of bottled water with the caps unopened, and nothing smelly in the sandwiches - strictly no onions or garlic.

Peter, the University's press manager, rightly assumed that the visit wouldn't really attract any press attention but went ahead and invited members of the press anyway as instructed. A few photographers and, if memory serves, Sky News turned up. However, the Duke arrived in the foulest of foul moods, stomped straight past the press and straight into the building. No good coverage that day then!

I spent the initial stages of the visit (while the Duke was being escorted around and presented to by anyone that we had 'guessed' would be of interest to him) dashing around making sure everything was set for lunch and trying to keep the men with the curly wires behind their ears happy! Lunch was hosted in a building with some well-meaning, but over-excited women eager to catch a glimpse of the Prince. The lunch itself felt a little like a wake: very sombre and controlled, with everyone politely munching on quartered sandwiches and sipping tea. By careful manoeuvring I managed to be one of the few people in the room to avoid having to exchange pleasantries with the Prince by pretending to be just too busy making sure everything was running smoothly. That, and hiding behind columns. The thought of having to remember the rules of address, and worse still having to actually do that curtsy for real that I had practised so many times (and that I had had to instruct so many others on) filled me with horror. The suddenly, he was gone. All over. Event disbanded. Not even a celebratory glass of wine and pat on the back as we were acustomed to do at Warwick after a successful event. As I say, it was a surreal day but I understand no where near as surreal as the Presidential visit that Warwick hosted back in 2000. My former colleagues have anecdotes galore from that event - but that's their story to tell (although my personal favorite is the colleague who responded to someone lightly tapping on their shoulder only to turn around face-to-face with Sir Trevor McDonald politely saying that he had lost his ticket and would it still be okay for him to go into the main hall - bless!).

PS Okay, so my title of this blog post is a little unfair - it wasn't really a 'mess' - but I wanted something snappy and it seemed like fun!