Marking the end of the Elizabethan era

Marking the end of the Elizabethan era – The day I met the Queen

Following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on 8th September 2022 we remember our late Majesty with our own memories and great admiration. A very select number of Worthians were also lucky enough to meet her in person and share their stories with us:

PRESS ASSOCIATION / DANNY LAWSON

I was very fortunate to have met Her Majesty on a few occasions. Like so many others who have commented on meeting her, it was very striking to see her smile and her wonderful blue eyes. She also had the gift of looking you straight in the eye while talking to you and not looking over your shoulder to see who else she might talk to. She made you feel at ease and worth talking to which was most humbling. On one occasion when I met her at Buckingham Palace, we were chatting about music and learning an instrument and I asked her if she would like to learn the piano. She laughed and said that she wouldn't have time to practise.

Nick Robinson StB’75, Chairman and Co-Founder of

Future Talent www.futuretalent.org

It was when working at a racing yard in Lambourn, Berkshire that we were informed that Her Majesty was going to visit and cast her eyes over the stock she had in training there, most of which she had inherited from her mother, the Queen Mother. Being fairly new and assistant to the trainer (general dogsbody) I thought we had better get organised for this momentous Monday raid by royalty. As I said to ‘the guvnor’, “after all, countries plan for months, even years, in advance for this”.

Well, it was a bit of a shambles, which she rather enjoyed. Riding one of her horses that I couldn’t really control much was quite nerve racking. When leading said horse up in front of the very knowledgeable Head of State (Don’t speak unless spoken to and chose your words carefully!), she said that the filly was lovely but moved ‘a bit like a camel’. Rather a direct and correct assessment I thought.

Lastly, when we ran out of bodies to lead up a horse we had to get a new young girl that had just started that day. She was wearing tracksuit bottoms (!) to show off one of HM’s unraced fillies. I simply said, “don’t speak unless spoken to and if you do it’s Ma’am as in ham not Ma’am as in farm, go!” I cannot imagine how the girl worded the inevitable conversation to her parents when asked how her first day at work went.

Sadly, we didn’t get the filly I was riding (Magic Score) to win, but she did finish second at Ludlow and then did another circuit with the jockey struggling with her as I had. We were also lucky enough to have the Queen’s best jump horse in training at the same time. A lovely horse called Barbers Shop.

Tom Symonds B’03, Racehorse Trainer,

Dason Court Stables www.thomassymonds.co.uk

Nick meeting the now King Charles and Queen Consort in a visit when he was Head Master of King’s College School Cambridge

Tom (on the left) on the Queen’s horse, Magic Score, and her former amateur jockey Captain Jamie Snowden on the right on Sir Jimmy Shand

Arriving in Paris – Anna is at the back behind her camera!

2004 marked the centenary of the L’Entente Cordiale (The Friendly Agreement), celebrating 100 years of friendly relations between England and France. The Queen travelled to Paris on the Eurostar with 200 school children, 15 of which were from the school I was teaching at in South London and I was asked to go as a chaperone.

We felt like royalty ourselves with all the red carpet treatment and huge security. The train was christened with a bottle of champagne before we set off and whilst on board every time they addressed every one over the speakers they would say, “Her Majesty, His Royal Highness Prince Phillip, Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen and Boys and Girls…” – which made us feel very special.

When we got off the train in Paris we all lined up and the Queen walked past and spoke to us. I received a “hello” and managed to say a “hello” back and she spoke to some of our children. I got to shake the then Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw’s, hand and speak to him a little as well. Then when we emerged onto the red carpet to thousands of people screaming and clapping and were escorted onto a bus and driven through Paris with the entire route lined with police and screaming crowds. We arrived at the Arc de Triomphe and went in the tunnel under the road to be part of a wreath laying ceremony which gave us the opportunity to see the Queen and Prince Phillip up close with the President of France, Jacques Chirac, and his wife. One of my students even managed to speak a little French to Chirac. After a cruise down the Seine we all headed back home to London on the train.

Anna MacMahon, Head of Development, Worth School

In 1986 the Queen and Queen Mother, these joint patrons of Royal Holloway and Bedford New College University of London, visited its Egham Hill campus, to formally open its new earth sciences building. I was amongst the members of the residence committees presented to them in the magnificent Picture Gallery in the Founder's Building, described as the most ebullient Victorian building in southern England. We were told to address them as "Ma'am" when we shook their hands. Afterwards, there was an informal break out to admire the world's most valuable and extensive collection of Turner landscapes. I suddenly realised that someone was standing side on from me trying to attract my attention. I turned and saw it was the Queen. “Aren't they lovely”, she said with a smile. "Yes, they're beautiful!" I replied. We then moved on. They remain the most valuable Turner collection in the world, despite the Charity Commission giving permission for the merged college to sell off one of them for £20 million to clear the debts incurred by the cost of the new buildings of the merged college.

I later found out about my paternal grandfather's first meeting with the Queen.

Princess Elizabeth was visiting Kenya when her father unexpectedly died in the night. The Governor was down on the coast, in Mombasa, and so it fell to the Attorney General of Kenya, John Whyatt, my grandfather, to deliver the news. He was later knighted by her as Sir John Whyatt, remembered for the Whyatt report which successfully recommended the introduction, based on the Swedish original, of the Ombudsman Report.

Adrian Whyatt StB’83

Saying Goodbye to Her Majesty

In his role as Chief of the General Staff,

General Sir Patrick Sanders R’84

played a key role in the organisation of her late Majesty’s funeral, as he described it, “the largest ceremonial event on this scale…for generations”, as well as taking his turn to stand guard during the late Queen’s lying in state. Major General Tim Tyler C’71 attended the funeral service in Westminster Abbey on 19th September:

Standing guard at the Lying of State

Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Patrick Sanders R’84, stood in vigil during the Queen’s lying in state in Westminster Hall. He told Sky News, “It was an extraordinary experience. “If you’re in spurs, going down the steps isn’t the easiest thing to do. Once we got in there, you’re just hit by a wave of emotion as the significance of the event strikes you. And then the privilege of being able to stand in vigil with your head bowed to Her Majesty, I’m still processing it.

Referring to the Queen and her relationship with the Armed Forces, he revealed: “I think the Armed Forces probably could claim that we have a particularly special and close relationship with Her Majesty. We tend, as an institution, to see a lot of the Royal Family and Her Majesty and so over time the relationship become quite personal and quite intimate. She really cared deeply about the units, the regiments, the shifts, the aircraft stations. It’s a very visceral connection.”

He concluded, “You start off right at the start of your career by taking an oath, you’re 18 or 19 and the words don’t matter that much, you don’t really think about them. As you go on through your career, then the significance of it begins to count”.

Reflections on the funeral

As Chair of Royal Star & Garter, I had the great privilege of representing the charity at the funeral service for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey. I have been in the Abbey before for ceremonial occasions but none like this. It was immediately clear that this sad but uplifting event was bringing together peoples and organisations from every corner of the world. The Queen and the Royal Family have a very strong relationship with the Armed Forces which I have enjoyed over the years but Queen Elizabeth had clearly had just as strong and invigorating relationships with everyone!

I was sitting next to two wonderful people: Brian Roberts, recently awarded the MBE for his work with Healing Hands Network which provides support to those who are suffering from the mental, physical and emotional after-effects of war, particularly in Bosnia and Herzegovina and now to British military veterans; and Victoria Clayton of the Shire Horse Society which, of course, takes a special interest in the Household Cavalry drum horses. We were sitting near holders of the Victoria Cross and George Cross and among representatives of all the orders of knighthood.

As the processions of dignitaries arrived: Heads of State, Prime Ministers, members of the Royal Household, religious leaders of many, many faiths and the Royal Family, I found myself thinking of the weight of history there. Five generations of my family have had Queen Elizabeth as our monarch. I could feel this concentration of history and could sense the presence of the Royal Star & Garter residents, most of whom have lived through the changes witnessed by Queen Elizabeth, our Patron for 70 years, and who were watching the service on TVs in our Homes in Solihull, Surbiton and High Wycombe.

The atmosphere changed from the moment the coffin was carried into the Abbey. The service was, of course, quiet, contemplative and with a sense of sadness for an irreplaceable loss. This was the place of the Queen’s marriage and coronation and now the place for us all to say farewell. But the Archbishop of Canterbury reminded us that this was a moment for celebration of a remarkable life and the transition of Her Majesty into the heavenly estate to which Christians aspire. For me the highlight of the service was the singing of the anthem composed for the service by Sir James MacMillan CBE based on St Paul’s letter to the Romans in which, after a quiet opening, the choir erupted into a joyous and almost chaotic ‘Alleluia’.

What a joy it was to be in my uniform again. After the service I lost count of the number of people who thanked me for all the organisation of the period of mourning and the funeral – I explained that I had had no responsibility, but they just wanted to thank the Armed Forces who are held in such respect. There were many soldiers from various units assisting with security and directing and advising the visitors, doing a fantastic job. I stopped to chat to quite a few and that immediate empathy was obvious, independent of rank and age, just soldier to soldier. These young men and women will, in time, be veterans and I am sure that Royal Star & Garter will be there to provide our ‘Care with courage’ following the example set by Queen Elizabeth and with the continued love and commitment of our President, Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra.

Major General Tim Tyler C’71