# Royals



## Larry Bennett (Aug 28, 2005)

On this Royal Wedding Day, wonder if anyone has had any dealings with the Royal Family at all? I met HRH the Princess Royal on one occasion, and of course the Queen visited GKA in 1958 on a fleeting visit.

I can recall some 'Royal Related' episodes involving GKA over the years:

1. One of the more eccentric R/Os was found to be at his w/t point, headphones on, typing away, but standing to attention. When queried about his unusual stance, he curtly replied "I am taking a telegram for Her Majesty the Queen'.

2. During the Falklands War, Prince Andrew once made an R/T call back to one of the royal residences. The GKA R/O connected the call with the unforgettable phrase "speak up son, your Mum's on the line'.

3. In the early 1980s I was driving back to Highbridge from Bristol in readiness for a 1700 start, only to find the A38 stopped for around 40 minutes. Apparently HM the Q had visited Weston-super-Mare (RAF Locking?) and her escort vehicles required a clear passage along the A38 to Bristol Airport. This delay meant I arrived at work some 30 minutes late - and the overseer duly noted my lateness as 'not excused'. Probably the same overseer who issued me with a written warning for taking a 17-minute break instead of a 15-minute break one evening. A little harsh I thought.

Larry +


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## Naytikos (Oct 20, 2008)

Bearing in mind the Post-Office Protection Act which we all signed, particularly the sentence about 'existence of correspondence', one cannot really provide a useful post to this thread.
I can only say that I once happened to be on a ship not a million miles from the Royal Yacht in certain waters and was able to assist with a few specific QSPs.


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## Larry Bennett (Aug 28, 2005)

Yep all noted - methinks the Falkland Islands episode is a bit of an 'urban myth' to be honest as I don't recall anything untoward happening at the time. It was only a few years later the story came out. One would have thought a secure network would have been in place for such communication, but never let the truth get in the way of a good story..

Larry +


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## TonyAllen (Aug 6, 2008)

Yep my wife in her late teens in the wrens met the queen the duke and the queen mother at separate times in Portsmouth,we have also met with prince charles on 2 occasions first at the embassy club in London for the princes trust and 2nd at the Liverpool empire again for the trust and we had some photo's sent to us from the trust meeting the prince in the foyer. he commented that my wifes hat was (rather splendid)our son recieved his gold award from the duke of Edinbourgh at st James palace while in the air force cadets.all in all a bit of family history now Regards Tony


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## Chris Isaac (Jul 29, 2006)

Met several queens on Pendennis Castle


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## Ron Dean (Aug 11, 2010)

On 2nd. Nov. 1956 I was on a Guard of Honour parade for HRH when she visited Abingdon for it's tri-centenary as a county borough celibrations. I was on the front rank, and she looked me straight in the eye as she began her inspection.
Then on 10th. July 1958 I stood alongside Prince Philip when he came to open the British exhibit (traditional British pub - The Fox & Hounds) at the Brussels World Fair of that year. My wife & I had managed to slip in with the press contingent as I had a twin lens reflex around my neck & my wife was carrying my camera bag.
All the press guys were stood well back from the Duke to get the best photographs. [=D]


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## BobDixon (Oct 17, 2008)

The staff round the coast were on a work to rule one year when the Royal Yacht appeared off the West Coast for her annual Scottish cruise. Normally this would have been notified in advance but HQ somehow failed to notice or promulgate the itinerary. 

With Britannia in communication through Oban GNE - where the work to rule meant one link call at a time - HQ made what they thought would simply be a routine phone-call to check that the industrial action was not causing any problems.

After initial panic at the thought that we might be delaying HM's personal communications, HQ quickly found the mislaid information and relayed it to the relevant Coast Stations. 

======================

On another occasion, an R/O at Wick GKR advised the person who answered the telephone at a number in the vicinity of Balmoral that she had a telephone call from the Royal Yacht Britannia. A very excited little lady at the far end said "Are you sure? This is a sweety shop?" I guess the R/O must have felt a little bit stupid enquiring of the Britannia whether they were calling a sweetie shop!


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## Vital Sparks (Sep 19, 2007)

A possibly true tale from BP concerns the official visit by Prince Philip to one of their "new" tankers at the Isle of Grain some time in the 1950s. The ship had already been in use for 6 months and rust had already set in but they crew were told to spruce her up for the visit. Never ones to avoid saving a penny whenever possible they painted only the side of the hull facing the dock. The Prince duly arrived and noting the shiny boot topping went straight to the other side leaned over the rails, grinned and said "I was in the navy too lads".


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## Vital Sparks (Sep 19, 2007)

After swallowing the anchor I went to work for a company which made underwater TV equipment. Shortly afterwards it was announced that Prince Philip would be visiting in 6 months time. All of my colleague immediately put in for a days leave but as a new start I had none and so could not do likewise. 

On the big day I was put in front of a piece of equipment with which I was completely unfamiliar and told to demonstrate it. It was a TV camera based around the optics and motorwind unit of a traditional 35mm SLR and the optical interface between the two was "sub optimal". The Prince, himself a keen photographer decieded to asl ask sorts of akward technical questions, some of which I knew not to answer and some of which I hadn't a clue about. I suspect the man can detect bullsh*t at forty paces so it was one of the longest 5 minutes of my life. I think it's how he gets his revenge for endless hospital openings.


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## Tom(Tucker)Kirby (Nov 22, 2009)

I and my wife were invited to one of the Queens garden parties 1995 at Buckingham Palace, salmon sandwiches and tea and all that, met the Queen, Philip, Charles,and Diana plus most of the Conservative bigwigs of the day and Military Generals from worldwide. Not bad for a mere Able Seaman hey.


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## Lksimcoe (Oct 30, 2006)

Way back in 1970 My Mum and Dad were invited to dinner at Balmoral (my father was on a Commonwealth committee or something). They'd taken my Fathers mother to Scotland that summer to show her where her father was born, and when my father contact Balmoral to say that because his elderly mother was now with them, they didn't want to leave her alone, so they were declining. They were told to bring her along, and my grandmother had a great time. Upon finding out that she had never been out of the province of Ontario in her life, but was interested in Scotland due to her family being from there, she was treated incredibally good. According to the story, she and the Queen Mother sat in a corner and drank G&T's. Now you have to understand my grandmother had never had a drink in her life, but I guess her Scottish constitution came through, as she (and the Queen Mum) out drank a number of younger people. I think my grandmother even pinched a glass that evening.

In 2008 my partner and I went to Scotland, and went to see Castle Mey, which as some of you might know was the Queen Mother's home. One of the tour guides told Wayne and I that when the Royal Yacht Brittania arrived every summer (In August I think) to visit the Queen Mum, her response was almost always, "Oh Bugger, they're here again. There goes the whole bloody week"


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## 5TT (May 3, 2008)

Picking up the pilot for Southampton sometime around 1980 we passed close enough to the Royal Yacht to have a good look, the one and only time I ever saw her and I just happened to wonder out loud what it might be like to work on her, meaning what the radio gear, traffic volumes and quality of life might be, and our Captain, never one to miss a chance to have a dig at anybody quipped "Forget it sparks, they're choosy over there" .. He wasn't my favourite Captain 

A while ago I seem to remember seeing either a brief video clip or a photo somewhere and it featured two Redifon R551s in that particular shot, but I can't remember where and I've been unable find any more information ..

Does anybody know what they had and how it was staffed? 

= Adrian +


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

Adrian,

Made the effort a few years back and visited the Britannia in Leith. An excellent tour and worth a visit if you are that way. Cannot remember seeing any radio gear so probably not on the tour or more to the point possibly removed. The crew were Royal Navy, plus Royal Marines.

Hawkey01


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

I have visited her alongside in scotland - she is now a museum.

Well worth a look - fantastically preserved. I have a photo of the wife and I in the wardroom.

The comcen was not in the visit, but the bridge was - like a time warp.


She was a naval vessel, so she had a military comcen, and was manned by the RN.

She did have an Inmarsat A.


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## Naytikos (Oct 20, 2008)

Like Hawkey01 and Troppo I visited Brittania at Leith, taking the self-guided walkie-talkie commentary. I didn't see the radio shack either. Given the cramped wheelhouse and miniscule Captain's and Exec. Off.'s cabins, I would surmise that it would have posed logistical problems to include any more of the 'nerve centres' in the tour. One couldn't actually access the engine-room or crew's accomodation either. The royal apartments are suitably spacious and more condusive to public viewing.
A great priviledge to even be permitted to step aboard and one hopes it will soon become politically correct to build a replacement.


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## waldziu (Jun 17, 2008)

I meet the Princess Royal back in 86. She was visiting the wrens at HMS Dryad and then as President of the society for riding for the disabled at the Naval Riding centre, in which I was involved as a keen equestrian. When not doing other naval type things.


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## M29 (Apr 20, 2007)

Vital Sparks said:


> A possibly true tale from BP concerns the official visit by Prince Philip to one of their "new" tankers at the Isle of Grain some time in the 1950s. The ship had already been in use for 6 months and rust had already set in but they crew were told to spruce her up for the visit. Never ones to avoid saving a penny whenever possible they painted only the side of the hull facing the dock. The Prince duly arrived and noting the shiny boot topping went straight to the other side leaned over the rails, grinned and said "I was in the navy too lads".


Hi All
Actually recorded in a Bibby Line magazine is a case of a royal visit to one of the ships by HRH. They acutally painted one side of the ship in preparation but berthed the wrong side to the quay. The magazine records that the youngest and oldest members of the crew were put forward to be presented to the Queen.

Best Wishes
Alan


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## Naytikos (Oct 20, 2008)

It might well be that he owns the place. A pity about the link, this excellent thread is now in danger of descending to the realms of 'stormy weather'.


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

I have deleted thread 17 as it has no relevance to the thread and we do not want any anti comments here. Please note.

Hawkey01


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## Vital Sparks (Sep 19, 2007)

While attending Southampton College, an engineering lecturer there claimed to have worked on a project to dampen the vibrations ocurring in the Queens bed on Britannia (apparently it was located over the engineroom). 

A solution based on the rubber resiliant mountings more normally used on electric motors was proposed and a full scale model was built to fine tune the design. All that was required was a human test subject and enquiry was sent to the palace to obtain her majesty's vital statisitcs. These it turned out were practically a state secret but were eventually obtained after the reason was explained. The closest matching member of staff was a cleaner (codenamed QS for Queen Simulator) who was seconded to the development team and spent a few weeks in a bed mounted on a large vibration table.


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## Naytikos (Oct 20, 2008)

Hawkeye01: thanks. You could delete my post too if desired as it has served it's purpose.


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

Naytikos, 

thanks, not necessary.

VS just love that story - QS - 

Hawkey01


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