It’s not often an invitation to join Prince Edward for lunch in Buckingham Palace arrives in the post, so when we received ours from the team at the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, we were pretty pleased!
We have been working with DofE for a couple of years now and the lunch was to say ‘thanks’ to their digital suppliers and outline how the organisation will be expanding their digital activities in the future.
So we jumped on the train yesterday morning and arrived at the side entrance of the palace only to be told that we were expected at the main front gate! They were Changing the Guard at the time, so to the sound of a marching band and under the watchful gaze of thousands of tourists, we were ushered into the palace.
We were then escorted to the balcony room (THE balcony – where that very famous Royal wedding kiss took place in 1981).
It was a very intimate affair, only about 20-30 people. Palace staff bought us gin and tonics and we took in the sumptuous surrounding and history that surrounded us. Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex arrived and walked around the room chatting. We discussed the recent YouTube Channel we have created for DofE and he explained what a fight he had getting ‘this place’ onto YouTube! He was a funny, down to earth and charming man.
After lunch (yes, the food was amazing), we all chatted some more, Prince Edward talked about the digital future of DofE and thanked us all for our hard work on their website and the eDofE. We had coffee and he said his goodbyes and left us to enjoy and explore the surroundings, portraits and antiques that line the main corridor .
It was a unique experience, and one that Matt and I will remember for a long time. Huge thanks to the DofE team for inviting us.
