There is Nothing like a Dame A novel by Bronwen Welsh Copyright© 2017, 2018 & 2019 Bronwen Welsh A sequel to 'The Might-Have-Been Girl' and 'All the World's a Stage'

Chapter 56   The Palace and the University

A couple of big events were coming up, the first being my investiture with the OBE. By the way, the official title of the order is The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. I had received a letter which contained instructions and advice. I was required to notify the Palace with the number of my guests and their names together with photo ID for all of us. This would allow us admittance to the Palace grounds. In these days of heightened security, it seemed a sensible precaution.
The letter read as follows:

'All the recipients are advised to arrive at the Palace two hours before the ceremony. Gentlemen are requested to wear lounge suits, collar and tie, and ladies tea-length dresses or pantsuits with low-heeled shoes. Photographs of each investiture will be taken by the official photographer and guests are not to take photos during the ceremony but can take photographs in the palace quadrangle after the ceremony.

If Her Majesty is officiating at the ceremony she should be addressed as 'ma'am' which rhymes with 'ham', not 'harm'. If it is one of the Princes they are to be addressed as 'sir'. Speak only when spoken to and keep replies short.
All recipients receiving a medal will wear a special clip to which the medal will be attached at the investiture.'

My guests would be Reggie and Emma of course. David kindly agreed to look after the children for the day. I so wished that Mum was still with us to come too, she would have been so proud. The occasion was the perfect excuse to buy a new dress and shoes as if an excuse was needed, and Emma felt the same way, so I arranged to meet her in York for a day's shopping and lunch. We had a great time and like most women tried on far more items than we bought.

I found a beautiful tea-length cotton dress with a floral design, and a pair of white pumps with three-inch heels to go with it. I assumed that the reason for the low heels is that it isn't considered good manners to tower over Her Majesty.

The day of the investiture arrived and the three of us travelled down from York by an early train and took a taxi from the station.

Reggie whispered in my ear “I always wanted to say to a cab driver 'Buckingham Palace please'.”

“Going to an investiture are we?” said the cabbie.

“My wife is receiving an OBE,” said Reggie proudly.

“Congratulations ma'am,” said the cabbie and I notice that he pronounced it in the correct way. I was sure that we were not the first people he had taken to the Palace for one of these ceremonies.

Arriving at the Palace, we alighted at the designated gate and Reggie paid the cab driver with the usual tip. Our I.D.s were checked by policemen and we were directed to walk through the quadrangle to a room, where, after everyone was assembled (there are always a few latecomers), a representative of the Lord Chamberlain introduced himself and gave us a briefing.

The investiture ceremony would take place in the palace ballroom where chairs were already set out for the guests. The recipients would be gathered in order in a side annexe to the ballroom and would come forward one at a time when their names were called by the Lord Chamberlain.

The recipients would be receiving Medals of the Order (MBE), followed by the Officers (OBE), Commanders (CBE), Knight Commanders or Dame Commanders (KBE or DBE) and finally Knight Grand Cross or Dame Grand Cross (GBE).

I caught sight of Madge and had a quick word and then we lined up in the annexe and to honest I think all our hearts were pounding. We could hear a small band of musicians playing in the ballroom. Reggie and Emma told me afterwards that the Queen entered the ballroom attended by the Queen's Escort of the Yeomen of the Guard (commonly known as 'Beefeaters') in their amazing red uniforms and carrying pikes! There were also two Gurkhas, a tradition started by Queen Victoria. The band then played the National Anthem and the investitures began.

As the queue in front of me diminished in number, so my heart rate went up. Finally, it was my turn and I walked in, turned left in front of the Queen and gave a curtsey. This was optional, I could have bowed, but I'm a traditionalist at heart. The Lord Chamberlain was saying “Mrs Harriet Staunton for services to the performing arts including promoting and teaching youth theatre.”. I walked forward and the award which had been placed on a cushion was held out to Her Majesty who fixed it to the clip which had been attached to my dress.

It's not considered 'correct' to relay conversations held with the monarch so I will merely say that she was very friendly and skilled at putting people at ease. She also seemed to know about my performing career. Finally, she held out her hand to be shaken and the investiture was over. I took a few steps back, bowed, turned right and walked out to the annexe on the other side of the ballroom. The whole thing had taken about a minute but of course, I'll never forget it. Her Majesty has a presence which is probably unique in the world. I've seen her several times since that day, and there is no doubt that the room lights up when she is there.

After the ceremony was over, we were all provided with a presentation box for our awards and we met our relatives and friends in the palace quadrangle for our own photos. Emma couldn't help saying that she'd never seen me look nervous at a public occasion before, but she thought this was an exception.

“Just wait until you get your own OBE!” I said.

Emma laughed and said that was highly unlikely to happen.

Just then Madge appeared. She had brought along her sister Lizzie who is a librarian, and as it turns out, a keen theatre-goer. I hadn't met her before but she seemed to know all about my theatrical career. They joined us for more photos. Before the ceremony I had invited her and her sister to have lunch with us, so after photos, that's what we did. I had half expected that Dame Emily would have come along, but Madge said she had regretfully declined due to a prior engagement. What I suspected, and I'm sure Madge did too, was that she decided against coming because she didn't want to take the spotlight away from her two protégés. This was very tactful and kind of her.

I had booked a table at 'The Goring Dining Room', a very upmarket hotel restaurant with a Michelin star. We were all dressed to the nines, so why not?. The menu is British, and the restaurant has received four and a half stars out of five on the sites I checked out. Fortunately, it is one of those establishments where the menus given to the ladies don't contain prices or Madge and Lizzie might have confined their order to a glass of water! I reminded them that they were our guests and to order whatever took their fancy.
We all had a wonderful time and it was well into the afternoon when we finally took taxis back to the railway station. I slept most of the way home, perhaps the result of a glass of wine too many? It has been a wonderful day.

This was not the only 'big event' of the year, but the second one featured Reggie. It felt like he had been studying at York University forever, but his studies were finally over and he was due to attend the degree-conferring ceremony.

Reggie had previously qualified as Bachelor of Economics with Honours and had followed it up with a further year's study to become a Master of Economics. He had accepted a teaching position at the university, having done some tutoring which he had enjoyed. We had long discussions on whether he should accept an academic post or look for a position in government or a company. While working at the university carried prestige, the monetary rewards were less than the alternatives. We finally came to the conclusion that since I was now earning a very satisfactory income, Reggie would accept the university's offer and stay there a few years before perhaps moving on. The prestige of having been a university lecturer would look good on his C.V.

While most students hire a robe, hood, and cap for the ceremony, as a staff member, Reggie would be required to attend a number of ceremonies so decided it would be worth buying his own academic regalia.

Reggie's parents and I were to be his guests at the ceremony, another excuse to dress up!

The ceremony took place in the main auditorium of Central Hall. The graduands sat in rows in the centre of the hall, and the guests on both sides of the hall. We all stood when the official party of professors and senior faculty officials walked in procession onto the stage, followed by the mace-bearer and finally the Vice Chancellor who would be conferring the degrees. He commenced procedures by giving a short speech congratulating the graduands, who then lined up to walk up on stage, shake his hand and received their degree certificates. I thought Reggie looked very handsome in his robes as he walked onto the stage.

A video was taken of the event and also official photos as each graduate shook the Vice Chancellor's hand. After the ceremony was completed, a student orator gave a short speech and this was followed by a longer one by one of the faculty professors. The official party then left the stage and the ceremony was over.

The students dispersed and we met up with Reggie for personal photos and afterwards had afternoon tea with him in one of the college cafés.

It was when I returned to England from Verona, that I met up with my mentor and dear friend Dame Emily and told her how much I was going to miss playing Juliet, even though I realised that I was getting too old to play the part. She told me that she felt the same way when she grew too old to play parts, but there is always another part waiting in the wings.

In many ways, she has been like a surrogate mother to me. She said that in her opinion the best thing was to get back into stage acting, and luckily for me I was approached to play the part of Desdemona in Shakespeare's 'Othello' in Stratford. Now I had a really big rôle to get my teeth into, and luckily, rehearsals started soon after the filming of 'Romeo and Juliet' was completed. It was wonderful to now be invited to play parts without having to go through the grueling process of auditions.

Back in 1964, one of the greatest English-speaking actors, Sir Laurence Olivier 'blacked up' to play the Moor, something that would never be countenanced today. Even at the time, there were some fellow actors who thought it was a mistake. Fortunately, an excellent coloured actor George Hensworth who was available to take on the rôle for this production. He had performed the part at a regional theatre a couple of years earlier, but this was his first appearance at Stratford and he was quite nervous and overawed by the company he found himself in, even me! I found myself in the curious position of having to boost his confidence, which wasn't hard because he was really talented. At six feet seven inches, he towered over me. On a couple of occasions during the play, he was required to carry me in his arms, something he did with ease. I never had any fear that he would drop me. Rehearsals went well and on opening night was a great success with a full house. The reviews were equally satisfying.

Now I was back in Stratford, I was staying at the apartment with Dale. He wasn't the same person he had been when he was with Frances and I was quite worried about him. We didn't discuss Frances because it caused him distress. In my determination not to take sides, I did arrange to have lunch with Frances in Warwick. I have to say that she was looking prettier and more feminine than ever and one of the first things she told me was that she was now on hormones Unlike Dale, she was only too happy to talk about him and their future; I suppose that is the difference between men and women.

“If only he could accept me for who I am, I'd be back with him like a shot,” she said. “Many times I've wondered if I'm being totally selfish doing what I'm doing, but I know I would never be truly happy if I didn't. What do you think Harriet?”

I smiled. “You know me and my penchant for quoting Shakespeare, but he did have some very wise sayings and one of the best was:

'This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.'

Frances managed a smile, but I could see that her eyes were filled with tears.

“I know you both love each other still and I pray that you will find a way to get back together, but I also know that if you were not true to yourself, then you would never be truly happy and that would eventually ruin your relationship. Have you spoken to Dale recently?”

“Yes, we do talk from time to time. We stick to neutral subjects; I ask him how he is and he asks me how I am, things like that. At least it is maintaining some communication. I always cry after I've talked to him, but it's something I feel I must do.”

I felt so sorry for them both, but I didn't know what I could do to help them. It was an awful situation.

Time passed and finally, Max Miller rang to tell me that the film of 'Romeo and Juliet' was finished and they were organising a premiere screening. I knew he had hopes of it being selected for the Royal Film Performance, held each year to raise money for the Film and Television Charity. This didn't happen, but Max is one of those people who doesn't give up easily and regards a setback as a challenge.

The main theatre in Stratford is not set up to show films, but Max found that there was a small window of opportunity between two stage productions and he managed to negotiate with Duncan Morgan to create his own 'Royal Film Performance', after establishing that there would be a royal presence at the screening. This would also be an event to raise money for charity. I don't know how much it cost him to convert the theatre to a cinema for one performance. A giant screen had to be installed on the stage plus the film projectors and a sound system installed, but it was all done in two days. At that time, the theatre had fourteen hundred seats and a proscenium arch with curtains, although it underwent a major renovation some years later with a thrust stage added which reduced the seating capacity, but gives a play presentation more like it was in Shakespeare's day. It was completely sold out for the film presentation.

A number of royals were present and of course, we were all 'dressed to the nines' again, with the men in evening dress (including Billy) and the ladies in glamorous gowns, to be presented to the distinguished guests after the performance. This was the first time I had seen the completed film and after getting used to seeing myself many times life-size on the screen, I was really pleased with how it had turned out. Later, I was able to obtain a DVD of the film, but nothing compares to seeing a production on the big screen with surround sound. There was actually a standing ovation at the conclusion, something I don't remember seeing in a cinema. When it was my turn to be presented, the Prince was very complimentary, saying it was the best production he had ever seen, either on stage or screen. What we had wanted to do was record the definitive performance which would help students studying the play for years to come, and I believe that we achieved that goal.

I had obtained tickets for Reggie, Emma and David, also Dale and Frances, although regretfully, they had to seated apart. However, I made sure they were seated close enough that they couldn't avoid seeing each other. Perhaps that sounds devious, but I had the tiniest hope that they just might talk to each other, and who knows what might happen?

Life was going very smoothly, perhaps too smoothly. In my experience, there is always a calm before the storm. Nevertheless, when the storm broke it was a major shock.

To be continued

Author's note: I have never had the pleasure of attending an investiture and relied on the very informative website www.royal.uk for information in writing this chapter. If any reader has attended an investiture ceremony and would like to tell me about their experience and any errors I have made I would be very grateful. This can be done by private message rather than a comment on the chapter if this is what you prefer. Thank you. Bronwen.