MY childhood was quite strongly connected to the royal family. As a youngster I lived just a mile from Buckingham Palace. My father worked for The Royal Parks of London, and as part of his job he’d had several tete-a-tetes with various royals. He was even invested at the Palace, receiving a Royal Victorian Medal (for personal service to the Sovereign).
Whilst I can’t claim our family was part of the royal ‘inner circle’, what the Queen and her family did and where they went was frequently a part of our conversations at home.
Meeting the Queen
I myself had the honour of talking with the Queen on perhaps six or seven occasions. My first was two years after I left school, and while I was a student at the RHS Garden at Wisley. Of those in my ‘year’, I was the one chosen to put on a suit, and go to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show for a special Royal job!
Every year, until quite recently, the Queen and Prince Philip would visit Chelsea before it opened to the public. The Royal party would arrive
