| 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 4 of 4 The President and his cronies sat opposite all of us — ie PM, Foreign Secretary, CDS and me — and then read from a prepared statement. I could see I had no escape from replying, so I desperately tried to think what I could say without causing an incident. After a few pleasantries about Shakespeare (the President seems to like the bard's work) we all trooped off to the main hall of the new convention centre — another day's march from where we were and absolutely vast. For the hand over this hall had been transformed into a kind of Great Hall of the People of Peking. After my speech the President detached himself from the group of appalling old waxworks who accompanied him and took his place at the lectern. He then gave a kind of "propaganda" speech, which was loudly cheered by the bussed in party faithful at the suitable moment in the text. At the end of this awful Soviet-style display we had to watch the Chinese soldiers goose step on to the stage and haul down the Union Jack and raised the Chinese flag. The ultimate horror was the artificial wind which made the flags flutter enticingly. 
Thus we left Hong Kong to her fate and the hope that Martin Lee, the Leader of the Democrats, would not be arrested at once when he tried his demonstration at midnight...Whatever may be thought about colonisation nowadays, Hong Kong was a pretty remarkable example of how to do it well. Thanks to Chris Patten, we left with affection and gratitude ringing in our ears. I believe Britain can be justly proud of two main elements of her legacy in Hong Kong. The first and foremost of these is the rule of law, without which there would have been no stability and no confidence to do business...the second is the good old English language and all that goes with it. We returned to HMY where I followed Chris Patten along a crowd of well-wishers, friends of his and former associates who were lining the jetty, and then we embarked in The Yacht to be met by a gaggle of waiting Patten daughters, all thoroughly overcome by emotion and exhaustion. We steamed slowly down through the harbour, followed by the escort HMS Chatham and accompanied by two fire-fighting tugs spraying their hoses high into the air. I stood on the deck gazing at the departing skyline of Hong Kong and telling myself that perhaps it's good for the soul to have to say goodbye to that and the dear Yacht in the same year. Perhaps. Please feel welcome to offer your opinions on this and any other royal story by visiting our Royal Forum or via our Comments section below. Comment on this article
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