In the 60 years I worked in journalism I covered several Royal visits, both in the West Country and in London. I have also had the privilege to meet several members of the Royal family.
My first experience of reporting on a Royal visit came in 1966 when the Duke of Edinburgh visited the village of Feniton after severe floods. Prince Philip nursed a long-life distrust of Her Majesty’s Press. I was covering the event for the Exeter-based Express & Echo, where I served my apprenticeship, but it was clear His Royal Highness was irritated by our presence.
The first time I became face-to-face with a member of the Royal family was when I became managing director of Star Newspapers, a new company that published newspapers in Taunton, Yeovil and West Dorset.
I always encouraged my staff to engage in supporting worthy charities and we spent a year raising £25,000 (this was back in the 1980s so it was a significant sum) for CLIC (Cancer and Leukaemia in Childhood Trust) as one my reporters had a daughter suffering from cancer.
We presented the cheque to CLIC at a black-tie ball at the County Hotel in Taunton where the star attraction was Alvin Stardust, backed by the Weymouth All Stars. It was a memorable night.
As a result of our fundraising, I was invited to a function attended by the Patron of CLIC, the Duchess of Kent, who died recently. She was charm itself, very different to the Duke of Edinburgh.
Princess Alexandra was another member of the Royal family I met when she made an official visit to Lyme as part of the town’s celebrations to mark the 700th anniversary of our Royal Charter in 1985. I was deputy mayor at the time and was included in the line-up at the Guildhall who were introduced to the Princess, as was Jackie my wife who at the time was heavily pregnant with our first daughter Zoe.
The council was keen to make sure the town was spic-and-span which meant that the toilet in the Guildhall had to be redecorated just in case the Princess was caught short.
It was a great day for the town with all the school children lining the streets waving Union Jacks. The Princess went walk-about at the bottom of the town, shaking hands with dozens of locals, including the town’s oldest resident, nonagenarian Elizabeth Gollop, who was accompanied by her family member Ken Gollop.
After I moved to London to work, I got to meet Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, who was the main guest at a luncheon on HMS Belfast to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the South London Press, one of London’s oldest newspapers, owned by Sir Ray Tindle, who knew the Duchess well, and which I was managing.
The Duchess and I had a long chat before lunch, so long in fact that we kept the gathered guests waiting before lunch was served. Her Royal Highness was great fun and it was one of my great memories of working in London.
My greatest thrill, however, was when I was awarded the MBE in 2018 for services to the community. I was allowed three guests and my eldest daughter Zoe flew in from Australia where she was living to join Francesca and Jackie for a day we shall never forget.
I had no idea that I was receiving the MBE when a letter from the Cabinet Office dropped onto my door mat. I received the award from Prince William at Buckingham Palace. As he was pinning the medal to my jacket he asked me where Lyme Regis was. I told him it was where the Duke of Monmouth landed on his ill-fated attempt to seize the crown of England. The Prince replied: “I shan’t be going there then!”
My son Darren, who works in the media in London, joined us after the ceremony with his partner Jenny and our granddaughters Ella and Freya for a slap-up meal at one of Mark Hix’s private dining rooms in Soho. In the evening we all went to see Mama Mia in the West End. What a day!
And so, to last Monday when Princess Anne, the hardest working member of the Royal family made her second visit to Lyme Regis. The Princess Royal attended the Boatbuilding Academy and Furniture School on Monmouth Beach. It was billed as a low-key private visit but still attracted a great deal of attention down at the Cobb where there was a strong police presence.
Princess Anne travelled to Lyme in a helicopter, landing on the top field at the Woodroffe School and then by car to the Cobb where a line-up of principal guests were waiting to be introduced, including the Lord Lieutenant, Michael Dooley, the High Sheriff of Dorset, Callum Bremner, MP Edward Morello, Boat Building Academy founder Tim Genge and myself.
For the ladies who might be reading this, the Princess was dressed in a two-piece tweed suit with swede boost and a matching handbag and a red scarf.
She spent a couple of minutes speaking to each of us in the line, asking me what sort of season Lyme had had. I reminded her that she had been to Lyme before when she opened the coastal defence work in 2007.
She was then greeted by the Academy chairman Will Reed and founder Tim Genge and given a tour of the various workshops, chatting to all the boat graduates and furniture students. She was clearly highly impressed by the standard of workmanship being achieved. She also demonstrated a very dry sense of humour, very much like her late father.
Before leaving, Princess Anne - who had three other engagements in Dorset that day - unveiled a plaque to record her visit by which time a large crowd had gathered outside the Academy to get a glimpse of our Royal visitor.
I couldn’t help but think this was probably the last time I would meet a member of the Royal family, but none of you reading this will be surprised to hear that I am an enthusiastic monarchist. I think the King is doing a splendid job and I have no doubt, when his time comes, Prince William will accede to the throne with equal success.
Photograph: Princess Anne unveils a plaque to record her visit to the Lyme Regis Boat Building Academy and Furniture School