Royalty
The Duke of Windsor and Duchess of Cornwall arrived in California last month for a variety of reasons. Not among those reasons was to see me. But they saw me anyway.
I was sworn to secrecy about going to church, which was odd, since it was something I was going to do anyway. R and I often attend worship at ____________ in ________, California.
I found out many things after the fact which makes the story interesting. My wife told me we HAD to attend church at ________ on a certain Sunday. She said she couldn’t tell me why we had to do this, but that it was a good thing. She told me that she had been sworn to secrecy. I didn’t have a clue about what this might be but I dutifully entered “Mandatory Church” in my calendar. She also told me that we’d need to arrive early that morning. I said, “Okay”.
A week before the scheduled event, I invited my wife and the pastor to a special performance of “Autumn” from Vivaldi’s Seasons. For this performance, the actors played Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi and I was solo violinist and orchestra leader. We had a fun time with the lines that involved banter about which composer produced the better music. Following the performance, my wife prompted pastor to tell me what was the reason for our mandatory attendance at church next Sunday. I was first sworn to secrecy . Then he said, “We’re going to be visited by the Duke of Windsor and the Duchess of Cornwall”. In my mind, I had to translate…”Oh, that would be Prince Charles, future King of England and his wife, Camilla”. That explained the reason for secrecy…the security of the Royal couple. It also explained why we had to arrive early. They had to control the guest list. That was pretty exciting news. It’s not every day you get an invitation to be in the presence of royalty.
You can imagine how hard it is to keep such a secret, but I kept my oath. On Friday before the day, my brother and sister-in-law arrived to stay at our house for the happy celebration of our father’s 95th birthday. The party was on Saturday…the day before we were to worship with the Prince and Duchess. There were about forty people for dad’s birthday—a very social situation. Gossip would have been so easy—“We’re going to see the Prince tomorrow”. But we kept our silence.
At about 10:30 p.m. on Saturday night, I decided to tell my brother and sister-in-law in a way which would not compromise the secret. I swore my sister-in-law to the following oath…”If I give you an envelope will you swear not to open it until 11:30 a.m. tomorrow morning?” She first speculated on what the secret might be, but when I refused to divulge the true nature of the expected event, she agreed to the oath. I then went up to my study and wrote the following on a 3 x 5 card: “By the time you open this, R and I will have worshiped with the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall in ___________”. I put the card in a security envelope and handed it to my sister-in-law.
So Sunday morning arrived. The weather was a light intermittent drizzle of mist, but not too bad. We got up early and drove to ___________. To enter the church grounds you need to drive up a long curving driveway. We arrived at about 8:30 a.m. and it was obvious the secret was out. The paparazzi were crowded at the bottom of the hill. Press vehicles with their big antennas crowded at the entrance. There must have been sixty reporters, camera crew, photographers and security. We were greeted by ______, a member who had the guest list. He was the gatekeeper. Since we had our little car which is low to the ground, he directed us to park at the top of the driveway rather than the meadow below since it was pretty muddy.
At the top of the driveway were another thirty or so press and paparazzi cordoned off by the secret service with crowd control barricades. We were directed into the parish hall downstairs from the sanctuary. We waited there while the secret service conducted a sweep of the building. They then announced it was okay to go up the stairs to the sanctuary.
While we were waiting, we had a good discussion with a secret service lady from the Los Angeles office. She wore a black trench coat and at one point when the church—appointed photographer wanted to step out on the balcony, she spoke into her sleeve asking permission from her superior. Behind her dark locks we could barely see the communication earpiece. She made it clear to him that there were to be no photographs during the worship service. On the hill side of the building were newly installed shear curtains. They were placed at the request of the secret service so the paparazzi couldn’t intrude into the service. Since it was a bit crowded in the sanctuary, my wife and I moved to the chapel off the left side near the altar. That turned out to be fortuitous, since it put us within about ten feet of where the Prince and Duchess were to sit.
Pastor gave us instructions on protocol. First of all, one never approaches the Royal couple. Instead, you respond to their invitation with mirrored gestures. For example if they extend a hand, you reciprocate. If they ask a question, you include the words, “Your Royal Highness” in the first response, then “Sir or Ma’am” afterwards. This really makes the whole event very civil, as otherwise, people would literally mob the royalty in an attempt to gain a touch or word. It also means that some people will be overlooked who might like such a touch or word.
From our vantage point in the chapel, we could see the royal motorcade arrive up the driveway. First all the attendants and ambassadors came up the steps and into the church. Then the Prince and Duchess got out of the car and climbed the steps from the parking lot amid a clatter of camera clicks and greeted the pastor who ushered them into the church. That is when we first saw them. They processed to their appointed seats in the front pew on the left side, quite near the opening to the chapel where we were seated.
Everything about the service was completely normal with the following small exceptions. First, pastor acknowledged their visit. Second, during the service, three small gifts were presented. The children of the church had prepared a drawing. And two good friends, EJ and EG, each talented with needlework, presented embroidered crosses to the royal couple. While EG was working on the cross, she did not know who it was going to be for, since the secret was not yet out. So my wife, who knew the secret, and has regular contact with EG, had to be especially careful during the embroidery time they spent together in advance of the royal visit. The story came out afterward that during the presentation, the Duchess’ thumb touched EG’s thumb. During communion, there were two chalices. One gold and one silver. The prince drank from the gold chalice (as did I) and the duchess drank from the silver chalice (as did my wife).
When the organ started playing, I could see the photographers through the shear curtains jostling for position to capture the royal exit. We went out the back door of the chapel onto the deck overlooking the stairs where the royal couple would walk down. After they proceeded onto the deck downstairs to sign the church guest book and greet members of the vestry, we were at the very bottom step. The secret service then directed us to walk along the side of the limousine. We followed their instructions. They asked us to “Keep on going” past the open door of the limo. It was that instruction which kept us from shaking hands with the royal couple. Instead, Camilla and then Prince Charles came through the receiving line, shaking hands and generally showing interest in each contact. The prince asked some of the children just in front of us, what they did for Halloween. The post-church visit was about five minutes total, but they both showed a lot of gracefulness in their contact with each person. As Charles got to our end of the line, he hesitated just a moment as if he was going to reach out to shake my hand. But realizing that to do so would involve reaching over the person in front of me, he instead gave me a look in the eye and a royal nod which I returned.
Shortly after, they got into the limo and drove off, leaving everyone at the mercy of the press who wanted the scoop on what happened inside. Many parishioners complied. We saw some of the coverage later which made me remember my first musing of the year on the subject of counter speech. One newscaster asked nine year old MB what she was feeling about the Royal visit. They then quoted her answer, “I’m about to blow up” (cut). Please remember that what you see and read in the press is often taken out of context. Her whole sentence was, “I’m about to blow up with excitement”. Even such a little thing as that can start wars.
And now, a quick analysis of royalty. The visit of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall to the United States was focused on sustainable farming. In addition, I heard that they were intending to give Camilla a lesson on handling life as a future queen. From my perspective, they did both admirably. But, of what use is royalty, really? Will the monarchy be sustained?
In the eyes of God, I’m convinced that Charles and Camilla are just ordinary human beings. After all, like all of us, each is an accident of their parent’s decision to make a child. Being royal has nothing to do with a person’s innate character, but that character is most certainly shaped by being royal. After all, why would so many others and I have such a great curiosity to be in their presence? How is it that we dwell on their every gesture and possible touch? Constantly being surrounded by the photographers, reporters and others wanting an audience must certainly take its toll on their attitude toward life. It must be impossible for them to be normal. So why do we all exhibit such curiosity? Admittedly, it is fun to be in the presence of someone so recognized around the world. I have shared these anecdotes with anyone who will listen. I’ve shared my photos as well:
I just hope that continuing royalty will somehow make the world a better place. In the eyes of God, I believe we all have an equal chance of making that so.
©Frank Bliss 2005 All rights reserved.20051201
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