Lunch with the Queen

Friday 26th July

I arrived for work on Thursday 25th July , the day of the opening ceremony,  to be told that my name had been drawn out of the hat from all the VOC volunteers and as a result, I would be joining the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh for lunch when they visited the Athletes' Village the following day.

It turned out that my name was actually second out of the hat but the first volunteer has declined the offer. I'm not a great fan of the monarchy as a whole but have a lot of time for the Queen so I was happy to go.

The Queen meets Kathy Freeman before lunch in the Athletes' Village

The invited athletes, one chosen from each of the 72 nations, and the lucky volunteers assembled in the main dining hall, treated to an orange juice or Bucks Fizz and assigned to our tables. A  special area of main dining had been set up with tables with  table cloths and proper cutlery and crockery, something not seen at any other time during the Games.

We guests probably had the least opportunity to speak to the Queen but she came within spitting distance of me if I can use that term about royalty. She sat on one round table with 10 athletes including the English representative and Cathy Freeman of Australia. The Duke sat on an adjoining table whilst the rest of us sat in a U shape around them.

I was sat on a table with 2 other volunteers, a very large Gambian, resplendent in national costume and a a female Cameroon athlete, similarly resplendent who was outside Cameroon for the first time in her life. Also on my table was Makhosemhlaba Shabalala, a weightlifter from Swaziland. I had such a great time talking to him, I went to the trouble to find out his result and I usually ignore weightlifting entirely. He came sixth in the Men's up to 62Kgs class but equalled his personal best which was his aim.

After the arrival of Queen and Duke we were joined by the Duke of Edinburgh's Equerry and one of his personal protection officers, although this individual change three times during the course of the lunch. The equerry was a good laugh and was an ex-paratrooper.

The menu was :- Summer salad leaves on a bed of heart of artichoke with sun dried tomatoes and balsamic dressing followed by poached salmon or roast beef on a bed of cucumber ribbons with asparagus. No dessert, there was no time but we did get a coffee with mints after the Queen and Duke had left.

They were both very chatty and posed with athletes to have their photographs taken. The Duke even told the Queen to get out of the way at one point.

After all that it was back to work in the VOC as normal. All the guests were given a letter to remind them of the occasion.

Letter after lunch with the Queen