Best of British

credible honour to be rep‐resenting his Majesty now, having represented her Majesty. Frankly, we’re all getting a little bit used to it and there’s no huge differ‐ence and it remains a tremendous honour.

Me

I imagine it’s quite an honour also, that you now will go down in history as the British Ambassador who served under two monarchs. I mean, that’s a pretty big deal.

HM Ambassador : And it hasn’t happened for a while.

Me

I know that I cried when I heard the news of her Majesty’s passing but I put on my best face, as I think we British do, renowned for our stiff upper lip, not showing our emotions and queuing.

What would you consid‐er to be the ‘Best of British traits’?

HM Ambassador : I jumped the queue the other day by accident. I feel terribly guilty, so that shows I’m still really British. I think despite being having been here for a few years you’re right, that it was a very emotional moment just to get back to that for a second.

It’s strange because Queen Elizabeth was obvi‐ously a monarch that had been around for a very long time, not somebody that you and I know deeply well personally and yet it felt like something quite person‐al… and people were very surprised by that, but we get on with the job, keep calm and carry on. The fu‐neral itself was an extraor‐dinary event … I’m sure the coronation this weekend will be as well. I think what King Charles is looking for from this weekend is to re‐ally show the best of British, because it’s not just about the Saturday, it’s also about the big lunch on the Sun‐day, which is all about com‐munity. It’s all about bring‐ing people together.

… I’m extremely proud to be British ambassador here... I know very well that Brexit has been hard for people ... but we haven’t changed as a nation. Our values haven’t changed, the essence you’ve just been talking about hasn’t changed. I’m very proud.