With the Queen's Jubilee around the corner, members of the Hawarden community have been discussing Hawarden links to the Royal Family. Here, Warden Peter Francis looks back to when Queen Elizabeth II visited Gladstone's Library.
The Queen visited Gladstone's Library in March 1998, the day of the opening of the Dee Bridge. She came to have lunch and a look around the Library where she met some Trustees and myself. We then took the Royal party into the reading rooms. What I remember is that she was fascinated by the Library - or implied she was - while the Duke of Edinburgh had a knack for looking where you hoped he wouldn't, opening doors into the cupboard where the hoover and brushes were kept, for instance.
After the meeting and greeting the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh went to rest in what was then the Librarian’s sitting room. We provided a bottle of Dubonnet, a bottle of Gordon’s gin and a few bottles of tonic. We didn't build anything new for the visit, the only thing we did was repaint the loo in the Librarian’s flat and buy a new loo seat! When I walked her up the stairs to the room to rest, I did something that I still have a habit of doing: I patted the bust of Gladstone on the head as I went past. She said, "How funny. I do exactly that with a bust of Queen Victoria when I pass it on the stairs in Sandringham."
Queen Elizabeth II and Warden Peter Francis in the Library porch.
After their brief rest they came down to the Gladstone Room where they met staff, guests and volunteers. We then hosted lunch for about 50 people, and it was cooked by our kitchen staff with a few extra catering staff who we'd brought in for the day. I can't remember what we had for starters, but the main was Welsh lamb and the dessert was Llanberis pudding, which was a specialty of our cook, Brenda Futia. I remember I sat between the Queen and the then Welsh secretary Ron Davies over lunch, and I was impressed by the Queen's extraordinary knowledge of Welsh businesses and issues.
TOP - Queen Elizabeth visits the Reading Rooms with Ron Davies, Sir William Gladstone, Peter Francis and the Duke of Edinburgh.
BOTTOM - The Most Revd Alwyn Rice Jones, Archbishop of Wales, Peter Francis and Queen Elizabeth II in the Gladstone Room.
The visit came a year after the death of Princess Diana and the Royal Family and their advisors were keen to modernise. We were told we did not have to bow or curtsey and we could say "Your majesty" rather than "ma'am". They wanted to make sure that things weren't too stuffy, but some of our trustees at the time liked to do things the old fashioned way so they rather encouraged the old protocol. We were guarded throughout their visit by more undercover police than I have ever seen in my life. The route and rooms we took the royal party into were vigorously searched with sniffer dogs and police were strategically placed in case of an emergency. After the initial nervousness, I found the whole event very relaxed. There were no speeches just enjoyable chatter over lunch.