𝗣𝗵𝗶𝗹 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 (𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗻 𝟭𝟰/𝟬𝟯/𝟰𝟮

I remember The Queens Coronation. I was 11 years old at the time and in the last year of primary school. I recall it was around the same time that Mount Everest was conquered for the first time by Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing. We took a school trip to the local cinema (in Suffolk Street, The West End Theatre) to watch a short film about The Queens Coronation as well as the celebration about Mount Everest. I also remember our road being closed off for a street party (Acheson Road, Hall Green, Birmingham). There were tables set up all down the centre of the road and I remember having jelly and ice cream, cakes, sweets and of course sandwiches. It was like a giant birthday party and we all wore our best clothes and waved the union flags. Back then, everyone still had ration books and food was still in shortage. People had to give coupons in to get their weekly allowance so the whole community had to put their coupons in to help provide the food.

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I have personally seen Royalty on 3 occasions.

The first being when I was President of Burntwood Lions. It was at the launch of Heart FM Radio in Birmingham and Sophie Reece Jones (now the Duchess of Edinburgh) organized the launch. This was before she married Prince Edward. I was invited as a representative of Lions Clubs International and had a pleasant chat with her during the event. She is now The Royal Patron of Lions Clubs Uk.

The second time I took a last minute trip to London with a friend who was visiting from Australia. When we arrived and got onto the underground towards Westminster there were far more crowds than usual and we saw lots of people in top hats and women in fancy dresses. There were police cars everywhere and we asked a female police constable what was happening only to find it was The Trooping of The Color that day! She advised us where to get the best view and so we headed straight to the top of The Mall. At that time The Queen still rode a horse so we saw her and The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles, Prince Andrew, Princess Ann, Prince Edward on horses and all of their children in limousines behind along with The Queen Mother. The atmosphere was electric. Afterwards we saw them all come out into the balcony of Buckingham Palace to all the cheering, the National Anthem and the full aircraft flyover which was the highlight for me personally, ending in a spectacular display from The Red Arrows.

The third time was when I worked at The Belfry Hotel, Wishaw, Birmingham - the spiritual home of The Ryder Cup and the home of the PGA. Prince Andrew came along to open a new part of The PGA as he is an avid golfer. I was in the line up of people to shake is hand, he paused to ask me what I did at the hotel and we had a pleasant chat.

I’ve always been a Royalist, they do a great job. I feel they get a lot of bad press and people don’t see how hard they work or the value they bring to this country through the revenue they create with tourism and so on. They’ve had a difficult few years which seems to have created apathy for Royalty but personally I prefer a Monarchy to a Republic.