Some people have mixed feelings about the concept of a monarchy – but I join the masses in mourning the loss of a wonderful inspiring woman: our Queen. She led an incredible life and in honesty, even though she was 96, I was shocked at her passing. I thought she would reach 100 for sure.
I was never lucky (or successful) enough to meet the Queen, though I’m sure I would make a cracking Dame! However I used to love trips to London as a child with my parents and sister, to see Buckingham Palace. We always looked for the flag flying, indicating she was in there somewhere.
I remember going to see Trooping the Colour with the Girl Guides when I was about 10 years old. When the Queen came out I think I jumped up and down to get a one-frame glimpse of her. But knowing she was just metres away was fun. The rest of the day was spent sight-seeing and I think our other ‘take-home’ from that day was seeing Tower Bridge raised up.
I did however in my twenties, have a very important duty linked to Her Royal Highness. It was December 2007 and I was in the midst of trying to carve out a career in TV. At this time I worked in the ITV Transmission Centre. I actually loved it there. It was a high security area in the middle of the London Studios. There were no windows, but screens everywhere. It was dark and had an essence of NASA. It was wonderful at Christmas because they would deck the halls into a large-scale grotto.
On the Sunday before Christmas (around the 23rd) I decided to take on an extra weekend shift, which was a lone shift. No immediate colleagues to talk to. My manager however, tasked me with a very important job. A messenger from the Royal Household was due to deliver the tapes containing the Queen’s Speech for that year and I was not to go home until they had been successfully received by me.
My first thought was ‘the Queen’s speech is pre-recorded?!’. But then I didn't blame her. Imagine trying to enjoy Christmas every year knowing you had to give a talk to 60 million people in the afternoon? As I waited, the evening drew in and my manager sent a few messages to see if it had arrived yet. It hadn’t. Just as I was giving up hope, I received a call from reception – it had arrived! I skipped down to the Lobby wondering if there would be a fanfare, revealing a horse drawn coach, a footman holding a scroll and a velvet cushion with the tapes on top. Well sadly not. It might as well have been a Dominos delivery man. A man with a backback and a high-vis mumbled through his bike helmet, I think asking me to sign a cold piece of paper. I remember having to give a few extra details. Even the tapes weren’t gold-plated. Just two standard small digibeta master & safety copies.
I took them back to the transmission centre. I remember a little bit of drama the following day. We had a very high-tech system in transmission where tapes waiting to be cached onto the server were stored on the shelf in an upright position, and once completed, they were placed on the long spine ready to be archived. Or maybe it was the other way round? I really don’t think it was me BUT someone mistakenly put them on the long spine… so they were considered missing for a few hours.
I always look forward to the Queen’s speech at Christmas and that year was extra special because I helped to put it on our televisions. I have no doubt the King will do his mother (and Christmas) proud this year.
Rest in peace Your Majesty.
And long live the King!