Have you seen any of the Royal Family up close?

I know someone who, as a child, has TWICE sat on the Queen's knee. Does this come into the category of 'I danced with a girl who danced with a man who danced with a girl who danced with the Prince of Wales'? Fame is sooo fleeting. Now, where is that tea towel?

First time, in the 50s, Queen whizzing by in limousine. Next, strawberries & cream in marquee in Edinburgh with Queen (husband’s old regiment) me in what I now see as mad outfit...then presented to Princess Anne after solo singing (knows her stuff but charmless and I spoke first!) Then cocktails with Prince Andrew at husband’s club, PA flirty ?
Prince Edward twice through singing, nice but a bit boring,
Late husband attended dinners at St. James Palace and Edinburgh Castle with Queen, also Duke of Kent, he a great royalist, Royal family my soap opera?. From all these comments, they get about don’t they?

Not a Royalist at all, but I think the Queen is the best of a bad lot.
I also have a soft spot for Princess Anne.
I was at Badminton when she was thrown from her horse and witnessed the iconic moment when she told the press to "Naff orf". It was a bit more colourful than that, I can tell you!
She is a hard worker, and when we had heavy snow, she was out delivering supplies with her staff and a fleet of land rovers. I respect someone who can get their hands dirty to help others, even if she is a bit high and mighty.

I used to live in Tetbury. Saw Diana a number of times walking around the town followed by her detective. I had an invitation given to me by a dear friend who couldn’t attend to go to a special church service for Prince Charles and Diana .Prince Charles looked up to the balcony where I was sitting and caught my eye.
My son sang in the church choir and went to Highgrove with
the choir to sing one Christmas. prince Michael of Kent came into the wine shop where I worked one day and asked me to recommend a wine for a picnic. I chose a white German one!
He was very polite.

Princess Alexandra opened a new building at our school in the late 60s, and I saw her up close but didn't speak. She was young and beautiful with a lovely smile. I have seen other Royals from afar.

I did meet Camilla for a proper chat, after my son returned from Afghanistan. She was a surprise, really warm, chatty and friendly and down to earth, no airs and graces. It changed my opinion of her.

I had a brief conversation with Princes Diana when she visited a children’s home for disabled children in the late eighties. She was beautiful.

A few times- first as Head Girl of my High School in Scotland when the D of E made a very feeble joke about my future study of Moral Philosophy at St Andrews , also at Dad’s investiture at the Palace but the one that sticks in my mind was when I was taking a short cut through Deans Yard behind Westminster Abbey from my PILs’ flat in Tufton Street and came face to face with Princess Margaret. I don’t know who was more surprised!
My parents met them a couple of times at swanky weddings and said on one occasion PM had drunk too much and HM was more than a bit short with her!

Princess Anne came to open a restaurant in a 6th Form College where I was a governor. She didn't stay long and didn't shake hands with all the govs.

Ohh yes the Queen !
My hubby’s friend lived near where she passes and waved once a year when the derby runs
Surreal ... was in car but I could have touched car ?
His little girl said just before we went .. to her friends ... “come on we are going to wave to the Queen “ ... she didn’t even know what she meant bless her .. was copying Mummy and Daddy ..: was so innocent lol
We waved to her ... but she wasn’t that interested ? ...I just remember the little girl more than anything and how she said it so innocently and excited lol
Btw .. we are not posh ... lol

I was on the South Downs, with my then boyfriend, and saw a woman and two men walking towards us. In front were a few small dogs who bounded up to me.
Not being a particular fan of ‘ jumping up and clawing your legs while the owners look on benignly “ type, I was contemplating giving them a kick up the backside.
But....as you may have now guessed it was the Queen and her corgis and bodyguards . So I had a face to face with her majesty, and her horrible badly behaved dogs.
As you might notice....I still have my head.lol
She was small, headscarfed and looked like a middle class matron.
I have a invitation to go to the Palace in May so MI5 are still not into me.

Charles and Camilla visited our little Welsh village 2 years ago as part of his ‘the pub is the hub’ interest. He’s average height and build but very ruddy and weathered face. Camilla shook my hand as I volunteer in the village community shop....heavy make up and at least 60 denier thick stockings! So old fashioned but pleasant enough and made a point of interacting with Mums and babies and dogs!

Yes, why?

Round about 1970 my aunt and uncle were invited to a Buckingham Palace garden party. My uncle had been blinded during the war and retrained at St. Dunstan's, the forces rehabilitation centre for the blind. I think the garden party was 25 years after the end of the war and was specifically for war veterans. They were particular excited as they were amongst those who were going to be presented to the Queen.

My mother, an ardent royalist turned out to see Prince Charles when he visited her home city in the 1980s. She took a rose to present to him if she got the chance. It was at the time when where ever he went people were more concerned to see his wife Diana. When my mother duly presented her rose, Prince Charles asked her 'is this for my wife'. My mother replied 'no ...it's for you'. The local tv news channel was on hand to hear and film the exchange and she duly appeared on the local news channel which showed Charles both surprised and pleased. Mum was absolutely delighted and still has cuttings somewhere at home from the local newspaper.
I haven't met any of them.

At the opening of a nature reserve in late 80s. There was an order of importance of who should be in close contact to Queen Mother. Three paper spots on clothing ....meet her in car park with introduction...2 spots...no introduction but near to her entourage. 1 spot...lined to rustic pathway to the rustic arbour where she would enjoy teacake cakes with more 3 spots.
As she came through the kissing gate (on which our 4 year old was swinging) she smiled at him and said hello. He replied "I don't know you" and ran off. HM turned to her lady in waiting saying "That's just how little boys should be"
As she walked past us in involuntarily bobbed. My body just did it.
I could not see my 4 yr old. Down the rustic path came a policeman with son in tow. He had climbed up the Herts and Middlesex Trust hoarding and politely asked HM for some cake please.

Quite a number but protocol prevents me from mentioning details. Sorry, all due to my DH job.

When I was nine, the Queen went on a tour of the country after the Coronation and my brownie pack, in our uniforms, lined up along the side of the road to wave our Union Jacks. I was so impressed I wrote a long letter to the Queen in my best writing and was thrilled to get one back from Buckingham Palace, signed by one of the ladies-in-waiting, thanking me for my letter!
About ten years later, I was a student in Cardiff and was walking back from a day at the beach, hot and sticky in my jeans, through the castle grounds, when I came upon the Queen Mother on a walkabout, as far as I could see, unaccompanied apart from someone following her and generally keeping an eye on things. I really wanted to go and talk to her, but I was so scruffy and smelly after a day at the beach, that I didn’t feel I could.
More recently, Prince William opened the new China Centre at the Oxford college where my husband used to work, and we were invited and he said “Hello” to us. He is very tall! The Duchess was supposed to be coming with him, but she was pregnant and sadly, too ill to go with him.
My cousin was out walking on Hampstead Heath once when she lived in London, when she bumped into Princess Anne, who was also out for a stroll. They had a long chat and my cousin was very impressed with her as she was so natural and friendly.

I was on the same flight to my home town as Camilla a few years ago. When she boarded I recognised her but couldn’t place her. I decided she was probably one of the receptionists at the local surgery or worked in the library or maybe in a local bank and it was only when we arrived at our destination that I twigged who she really was.

I went to a charity polo match at the Beaufort club about 10 years ago and literally bumped into Prince Charles! He laughed and said hello and was I enjoying the match - both boys were playing. It was a glorious afternoon and he was very pleasant & friendly.

In the 50s as children we used to wait at the junction of Lionel Road and Popes Lane Ealing waiting for the Queen's car to come up from the Great West Road as she was driven from Windsor to Wembley Stadium to watch the football cup final.
In early 2008 my 91 year old mother had an appointment at the podiatry clinic at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kings Lynn on the morning the Queen was due to open the new xray department. She hadn't even arrived but we were sent all round the hospital instead of the usual route. We got to within 15ft of the podiatry clinic but were not allowed to get there. I managed to find a chair for my mum. Luckily because the Queen did not arrive near us for another 30 minutes. When she arrived to shake hands with some of the staff nearby she turned towards those of us waiting and said " I do hope you havent been waiting for a long time". She was so tiny but so beautifully dressed.

A doctor here in Portugal seeing my mother's name was Elizabeth said I see you are named after your Queen. My mothers reply was " more like she was named after me because I am 9 years older than her". That was him told.

When my son worked in central London, he used to go running in his lunchhour. Crossing the road on a pedestrian crossing, he was hit by a Jag. To avoid too much bodily damage, he threw himself on the bonnet and clasped the wiper blades. 'They look familiar' he thought as he stared into the shocked faces of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent!

Back in the late 70's/early 80 's when the era of high rise living had almost totally eradicated the back to back terraced houses once so common in the north, a local architect led an ultimately successful scheme to save some such properties very close to where my parents lived. The architect was connected to Prince Charles through his well documented interest in architectural matters and had obviously followed the progress of the redevelopment with interest. When the houses were complete, an opening ceremony was organised and amazingly Prince Charles agreed to cut the ribbon on the day. It wasn't highly publicised locally and was obviously more of a semi private visit mainly intended for the new tenants. However word must have leaked out and my mum and auntie decided to have a trot down the road and gatecrash the proceedings. They clearly blended in well, no one suspected a thing and they got to shake hands with the Prince of Wales. Thankfully he didn't question them on their connection to the scheme . The thing they noticed about PofW was his lovely skin. It clearly runs in the Royal Family.
My mum passed away last year and auntie is 95 now, but we still laugh about their royal adventure

I have three to offer:

We were 'given' a half-day off school which actually consisted of standing by a main road, bereft of traffic, waiting for Princess Margaret to be driven by. After what seemed liked hours and hours of waiting on a very hot day (probably only a few minutes!) a limousine whizzed passed whilst we are screamed, cheered and waved our flags.

Unbeknown to me, Mr, C, as a small boy, was stood four miles further along the same road doing the same thing.

This was probably some sixty+ years ago. How time flies.

Our children played in various orchestras and were invited to Windsor Park to play at a garden party for the Queen Mother at a function in one of the official houses there. The whole family was allowed to go along with, I am sure by today's standards, minimum security. We all saw the QM close up but she didn't speak to us.

My husband's company's building was officially opened by Princess Anne and he managed to wangle me an invite to the secondary 'line' of people meeting HRH. Although we didn't speak, HRH did glance in my direction!! My claim to fame!

My friend and I were at the gates of Buck Pal as Princess Margaret was driven out in her carriage on her way to marry Tony Snowdon. She looked beautiful in tiara and veil. I mostly remember how few people were around at the time. I've no idea why but we easily got right alongside the carriage as there were no crowds to speak of like there would be now.

I accompanied the wife of the head Gardner at Hatfield House where the Queen was visiting. I thought I would be in a mass of people, when I got there a few of us stood around some red carpet and the Queen slowly walked past to her car. Of course I curtsied, she smiled. I could have touched her. I am a Royalist and will never get over how lucky I am to see her so close and unexpectedly.

My husband and I were invited on Britannia for a reception when Prince Charles and Diana visited the Gulf in the 80’s. We were standing in groups and they went around and spoke to everyone. We found the Prince very charming, knowledgeable and relaxed. Diana was a little stiff and shy, but then they had not long been married and we were all career women and a bit older. The most memorable time of the evening was the band of the Royal Marines playing on the quayside. There were a few tears as we listened as we were all so far from home. Happy days!