Herbert Fernandes
Meets Prince Charles now King Charles III
t was a normal evening at work and I was preparing to lock up and leave the department. There was a knock on the door and the Company Chairman walked in with two smart gentlemen. I presumed that they were potential customers and welcomed them. The Chairman said that they wanted to meet me and asked if I could explain the work that the department does. There was no clue what was to follow after this visit.
A few days later, there was a meeting of senior staff at which we were informed that Prince Charles expressed an interest to visit the Company. As head of the department, I would have the honour of taking him around my department. The Company was going to develop a fragrance for The Prince's Trust. It is a charity set up by Prince Charles to help vulnerable young people to get their lives on track with a range of training programmes. The financial benefits from the sale of the fragrance would go towards the Trust.
For security reasons, we were asked not to pass the information outside the Company, even to family members. The Company headquarters is a stately building in the countryside. It was quite common to see wild deer, pheasants and other animals roaming on the grounds. The work undertaken here included marketing, sales, development and analytical work.
We were asked to address him as 'Your Royal Highness' with a bow and then call him Sir when in conversation. Also we were not to initiate a conversation but only respond to his inquiries. I was most surprised when he walked in and greeted me by my first name. Although I was nervous, he made me feel comfortable in his presence. He appeared to be well informed as he started talking about the history of perfumery of its roots in India and the Middle East, and that the modern development is in France. I proceeded to take him around the laboratory and he spent a considerable amount of time with me expressing a lot of interest in the work.
As he left I noticed the two gentlemen in the background that I had talked about earlier, who gave me a knowing smile of acknowledgement.
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