Meeting the Duke of Edinburgh and a surprise call ...
- May 5, 2016
- 2 min read
Tuesday 3rd May was the Air League Annual Reception where I was invited to collect my certificate for the completion of my 12 hour Air League Flying Scholarship. This event was held at St James Palace, hosted by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh who is the Patron.
As I needed to be at the Palace for 1700, my Mother invited me for a special celebration lunch and had booked a table at Galvin at Windows on the 28th floor of the Hilton hotel. This is a restaurant that I have always wanted to go to and what better time to go than to celebrate becoming a pilot.
The restaurant is really quite special, we had a table overlooking the gardens of Buckingham Palace, which had the garden party tents, reminding us both of the Cadet 150 garden party I had been invited to in 2010. After some fantastic food I was surprised when the waiter brought out a cake with “Congratulations” written on the plate. We then went to the bar which again had amazing views overlooking the City.
After a quick drink it was time for me to say good bye and head over to St James Palace.
I arrived in good time and met with some other scholarship winners. It wasn't long before we were security checked and invited into a grand room for the award ceremony. The Duke of Edinburgh arrived and this was a great chance to speak to some amazing people.
The Duke of Edinburgh then proceeded to present the major awards of the night. He made a quick speech before the phone rang ... this was no ordinary phone call, the person calling was being awarded the Founders Medal by the Air League. His name is Major Tim Peake and was phoning from the International Space Station travelling at about 17000mph over the Atlantic ocean. Amazingly, the call was crystal clear. After a short speech, his parents collected the award on his behalf.
The Duke of Edinburgh then made his way through the room talking to the scholarship winners. He spent a good couple of minutes talking with me about flying and where I see my career going - I was wearing my Duke of Edinburgh Gold badge so he asked me a lot about that too.
After speaking to the Duke I spoke to as many people as possible but the most memorable has to be Tim Peake's parents who described what he was like growing up, to how they felt when they were told he was going to space.
After about an hour everyone was leaving, I had been invited to the Red Lion, where the Air League had ordered some pizzas. Again this was a chance to meet some amazing people ... here I was so pleased to meet Johan Wiklund who flew from Sweden to Cape town (South Africa) in a 1935 De Havilland 60 Moth (READ ABOUT IT HERE). A few of us then went on to the RAF Club in Piccadilly for a night cap.
Overall it was a fantastic day which I will never forget.
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