Visit of the Prince of Wales
The Prince of Wales visited the College today to commemorate the 450th Anniversary of our foundation, causing the usual stir that any royal visit would. He is actually the second royal in a week to visit after Princess Margaret had opened the Sutro Room (formerly the Arts Room) recently.
I had decided that I may as well try and meet him, seeing that I probably would not have had any other opportunity, despite not being all that fussed about royals in general. The College had a ballot for 10 places for undergrads to meet the prince as a group (along with other groups of Fellows, Staff, Postgrads and so on) and I put my name in a metaphorical hat, and found myself selected, out of 70 odd students, so I am told. So we all crowded into the dining hall and availed ourselves of the tea, sandwiches and other condiments that are always a big drawing factor at these events and awaited his arrival.
I wouldn't say it was an anticlimax because I was not expecting very much, or in fact anything at all. He came, he made small talk and he left (a modern version of veni, vidi, vici). I didn't even get a word in, mostly because we stood in a semi-circle and I found myself standing just over his right shoulder at the edge of the semi-circle and thus could make out only snatches of what he was saying. It mostly involved what work we did, and riding bicycles and the like, thoroughly uninteresting. Still, I admire him for his capacity to make small take - it takes considerable skill to be able to talk to a group of nervous admirers and still be able to cut things off once they have been given their appropriate 10 minutes and then move on.
The greatest part of this whole event was still to come as the Prince cut the Anniversary Cake baked as our President noted by our award winning chef, and a fine cake it was too. Of course, being one of those present, I got a slice. A couple of my friends actually wrapped leftovers in napkins to send back to parents - an interesting thing to do, but quite thoughtful nonetheless.
Seeing my love of anacedotes, I have to relate this one, which I gave as reason for meeting HRH The Prince of Wales. In Oxford, there is a tradition of one having to down (i.e finished at one go) a drink if a penny has been dropped in the drink. The reason for this custom, is that the queen is on the reverse face of the penny, and is thus drowning. You thus have to down the drink to save the Queen. My comment was that seeing how many drinks I have had to down over the past two and a quarter years on account of the royal family, it was about bloody time I got a chance to meet them!
I had decided that I may as well try and meet him, seeing that I probably would not have had any other opportunity, despite not being all that fussed about royals in general. The College had a ballot for 10 places for undergrads to meet the prince as a group (along with other groups of Fellows, Staff, Postgrads and so on) and I put my name in a metaphorical hat, and found myself selected, out of 70 odd students, so I am told. So we all crowded into the dining hall and availed ourselves of the tea, sandwiches and other condiments that are always a big drawing factor at these events and awaited his arrival.
I wouldn't say it was an anticlimax because I was not expecting very much, or in fact anything at all. He came, he made small talk and he left (a modern version of veni, vidi, vici). I didn't even get a word in, mostly because we stood in a semi-circle and I found myself standing just over his right shoulder at the edge of the semi-circle and thus could make out only snatches of what he was saying. It mostly involved what work we did, and riding bicycles and the like, thoroughly uninteresting. Still, I admire him for his capacity to make small take - it takes considerable skill to be able to talk to a group of nervous admirers and still be able to cut things off once they have been given their appropriate 10 minutes and then move on.
The greatest part of this whole event was still to come as the Prince cut the Anniversary Cake baked as our President noted by our award winning chef, and a fine cake it was too. Of course, being one of those present, I got a slice. A couple of my friends actually wrapped leftovers in napkins to send back to parents - an interesting thing to do, but quite thoughtful nonetheless.
Seeing my love of anacedotes, I have to relate this one, which I gave as reason for meeting HRH The Prince of Wales. In Oxford, there is a tradition of one having to down (i.e finished at one go) a drink if a penny has been dropped in the drink. The reason for this custom, is that the queen is on the reverse face of the penny, and is thus drowning. You thus have to down the drink to save the Queen. My comment was that seeing how many drinks I have had to down over the past two and a quarter years on account of the royal family, it was about bloody time I got a chance to meet them!
posted by Caleb Liu | 11:24 PM
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