| Charles Unedited: The Prince of Wales' Hong Kong Journal |
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| Written by Joanne Leyland | |
| Thursday, 23 February 2006 | |
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Page 1 of 4 by H.R.H. The Prince of Wales (June 27 — July 3 1997) I then discovered that others like Edward Heath, Douglas Hurd, the new Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, several former Governors of Hong Kong such as Lord Maclehose and Lord Wilson and the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Paddy Ashdown, were comfortably ensconced in first class immediately below us. "Such is the end of the Empire I sighed to myself… I had been dreading the thought of Hong Kong in June and on arrival my worst fears were realised. The temperature was in the 90s and the humidity must have been very nearly 100 per cent. A slightly perspiring Governor met me at the foot of the steps and delivered me to Britannia which was tied up alongside the old naval base and near to the Prince of Wales building I must have opened in the 1980s. (Goodness only knows what the Chinese will have renamed it by now). As usual, it was wonderful to step into the familiar atmosphere but, this time tinged with an overwhelming sadness at the thought that this was going to be the last time of doing so on an overseas visit. 
Every important visitor including every foreign minister who came to the reception and the other official representatives who came to the two dinners in HMY were completely bemused by the decision to ex-commission her. "Why is this happening?" asked Madeleine Albright the US secretary of state, after she had had a breakfast meeting with the Foreign Secretary in HMY followed by a press conference on the jetty with HMY in the background. "A wonderful negotiating advantage" mused Robin Cook after I had invited him and his wife to stay the night on board and he had witnessed Miss Albright devouring home-made Danish pastries during their breakfast meeting. |
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