An afternoon at Holyrood Palace

Last night I went to sleep early and slept for 11 hours! I really was exhausted but I woke up refreshed and ready for the big day. Today was the day I got to go to a palace for the first time and to speak to royalty for the first time. I was invited to Scotland to attend a meeting hosted by the Prince of Wales to discuss gaps in fisheries data and how to rectify the situation.

I only had to be at the palace at 11:30 so I pottered around in my room for a while and then wandered down to the palace slowly. It was my first time in high heels since January so I knew I would need a bit more time than if I was wearing my regular flat shoes. I arrived at the gate about 30 minutes early and had a look in the palace shop. I was surprised to see that Buckingham Palace has its own range of bath towels and bath products that the public can buy. They have got the commercialisation idea! After looking around for a while I went and sat in the sunshine outside the Scottish Parliament.

Two other participants in the meeting arrived and I joined them and we went through the gate. One of these was Tore Stromme from the EAF Nansen Programme who I have known for a while now and it was good to catch up with him again. The other one was the guy I met in the hotel yesterday. He introduced himself again to me as if we had never met which I thought was strange but just went with it not wanting to embarrass him. He started to tell me that he had met another woman from Durban so I had to come clean and tell him we had already met. He could not believe it because he said I looked so different! Guess I can clean up okay sometimes LOL!

Anyway we were all escorted into the palace and taken upstairs to one of the rooms at the back of the building. Once everyone had arrived we were invited to have tea and mingle with each other and then lunch was served. It was a standing affair of a pasta and chicken dish served in bowls. It was really delicious. This was followed by a fruit crumble dessert. I let the side down though and skipped the crumble as I was too full from the pasta. See I can turn down dessert sometimes!

After lunch we went into the meeting room and were told how the afternoon would progress. Basically we were to discuss all the issues on the table, then the prince would join us for a discussion of the problems and the solutions. I was seated between the director of the International Sustainability Unit (the host organisation)  and the director of the Institute of Marine Research in Norway. Both were very friendly and Tore Nepstad (IMR) gave me some good advice for finding Norwegian  funding to support a small pet project I want to initiate in Mauritius.

The discussions were really interesting and before we knew it, it was time for the prince to arrive. The sum total of the protocol briefing was " Address the prince as Your Royal Highness when you start talking, Sir in the middle and end with Your Royal Highness. Men to bow slightly and women to give a small curtsy." We were all seated around the table when he came in and we stood when he came in. He apologised that he would not shake our hands (I was thankful for that because I could not imagine having to curtsy!) and then he gave us his view point on the importance of why we were all there. We had a good session with him and each of us had been primed on what part of our earlier discussions we were to talk to the prince about. Everone got the Your Royal Highness at the beginning, only some did the Sir bit and no one ended with Your Royal Highness. My bit was about improving the data collection systems that we already have in place and educating both fishers and data collectors to improve the quality of the data that is submitted. It was amazing how quickly the afternoon disappeared! The prince was very friendly and very well informed of the problems that fisheries managers face.

It was decided that the group gathered in the room will meet again at some time in the future to continue with this think tank. Once HRH had left we had a bit of time to chat among ourselves but too soon we were politely kicked out as there was another function after us.

It was certainly an interesting experience and if all palaces are like that one, I don't want to live in a palace! The two rooms we were in were decorated with really old and faded wall hangings - not quite as grand as I had expected but I guess I have to allow for the age factor! It was also a bit draughty but I was told that the prince likes cooler temperatures which can be very uncomfortable at times for those who have to be in attendance.
Holyrood Palace

My one regret for the day was that no photos were allowed in the palace and the ISU had not arranged for a group photo. Oh well it is all in my head!

From tomorrow I am a tourist in Edinburgh!

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