The Royalist - The Queen Visits Her 'Local' Troops

The Queen Visits Her 'Local' Troops

Written by Joanne Leyland

Tuesday, 31 January 2006

The Queen has special links to RAF Marham. The air base is situated just 10 miles south of the monarch's private Sandringham estate in King's Lynn, Norfolk, and the Queen has been a regular visitor over the past quarter of a century.

Tradition has it that Her Majesty visits the base at least every two years, in her capacity as Honorary Air Commodore, a title which was conferred in June 1977, Silver Jubilee year. However, in recent times the Queen has made a concerted effort to pay extra visits so as to meet, and offer support to, all those service personnel involved in the two Gulf Wars of 1991 and 2003.

Tuesday's visit offered the Queen the chance to pay tribute to all those in 39 Squadron, which is expected to be disbanded in the Summer. Her Majesty is always unhappy to see military units broken up, often because of political decisions. It was rumoured in the early 1990s that the-then Minister of Defence, Tom King, once sufffered the ordeal of an audience with the Queen — the very proud and ultra-traditional Head of The Armed Forces — in which Her Majesty sat somewhat stoney-faced, barely uttering a word, such was her dismay at the Conservative Government's defence cuts.

Of course, the Queen would never publicly speak out against Government policy but on this latest visit to meet her soldiers she did, nevertheless, offer words of comfort to those who will see their regiment disbanded, as Group Captain Greg Bagwell confirmed: "She has commented several times as she has gone round about how sad it is to see the aircraft and squadron disbanding."

The aircrafts of all five squadrons at the base were lined up for inspection, as were many of the troops. After touring displays in the hangars, the Queen enjoyed chatting with many of the service personnel.

As part of her day long visit, the Queen enjoyed lunch at the base before visiting the newly refurbished Sandringham Centre to meet with the oft-forgotten heroes of the Army: the men, women and children — the service families — who are left behind as their loved ones fight overseas and, all too often, lose their lives for Queen and country.

Having been a Naval wife during the years Prince Philip was a serving officer, the Queen enjoys a good rapport with Army wives as, up to a degree, she knows and appreciates what such a life involves.

The Queen can now enjoy an all-too-brief break from public appearances, her next official public engagement being over a week away. Not that the work stops here. As anyone with knowledge of the royal work schedule knows, the demands on the Queen's time (and indeed other members of the Royal Family) continue even behind the doors of the private royal homes.

The Christmas and New Year holiday well and truly over, the Court will relocate back to the London 'office' in the coming days as the Queen is due to officiate at an Investiture on February 9th, followed by a lunch with the England Cricket teams (I won't say "the Ashes winning England Cricket teams" in case any Australians are reading this!).

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