Gone to London to meet the Queen

Symbian recently was awarded the Queens Award for Enterprise, and I was one of the people randomly chosen to go to Buckingham Palace for a reception and to meet the Queen herself.

I felt terrible not telling anyone, but I just didn't believe it was going to happen. Or it would be some boring sit-down ceremony. Or just a huge practical joke by the company at my expense (we're still waiting to find out if the Nokia acquisition was some huge Finnish practical joke).

And after filing into Buckingham Palace it starts to get real. The sheer amount of red carpet and gold edging does that to you eventually. There were huge chandeliers and big paintings, and rooms large enough to fit a house in. Or two. And I had a weird revelation - everything in these rooms is the real thing - there are no copies or fakes here. Everything is probably worth a fortune.

After quaffing some drinks we notice that people in the room seem to be creating a queue, in the great British tradition. So we joined in, thinking it was time to take our seats. But no, about 5 meters down the queue is that sweet little lady you see on the news. And sure enough we were formally introduced, I shook her hand, said hello and moved on. Prince Philip was there too, he even seemed to vaguely remember the name Symbian. But the queue was moving, and we returned to the masses, feeling stunned at what had just happened.

I found out later the right thing to do is to say "Good evening, your majesty." But as an Australian we're not trained in Royal etiquette. Come to think of it, we're still trying to oust her as head of state. At least I didn't say G'day mate. Oh well, next time... mate.

We were browsing the art (oh look, a Rembrandt) when Prince Philip came over with a fantastic opening line "you must be the eggheads." Originally thinking he was referring to our software background at Symbian, it turns out he was highlighting that three of us were follicle challenged. We laughed, chatted, showed our phones, promoted our company and he mingled onwards. Clearly these people are masters of the social art of mingling.

Bridie felt a bit abandoned at home. Partly because she is more interesting in art than I am, partly because she would appreciate the champagne better than I, but mainly because there are unicorns all over the Royal Coat of Arms and therefore around the palace. And they wouldn't let me bring home souvenirs.

The weirdest thing was walking out of this palace / national monument / art gallery and not walking through a gift shop on the way out. Of course we weren't allowed to take photos. Though apparently some will become available for a small charge. Stay tuned.

Overall a great night that just zoomed past. Big thank you to Symbian for the chance, and Liz for having us over for canapes.