It’s not every day you get the chance to shake the hand of the Queen of the United Kingdom. But that is exactly what happened today as l waited – along with quite a few other people – to watch Camilla – Her Majesty the Queen Consort – come out of the city’s Guildhall where she had been attending a reception.

Queen Camilla was in Bath to officially open the new national headquarters of the Royal Osteoporosis Society – of which she is President – at St James House on the Lower Bristol Road.

Both Her Majesty’s mother and grandmother died of the disease.

Afterwards, the Queen Consort attended a reception at the Guildhall – meeting various dignitaries including the Mayor of Bath, Cllr Rob Appleyard and the Chair of B&NES Cllr Shaun Stephenson-McGall – before delighting the crowd with a mini-walkabout which lasted from the pedestrian crossing to the first bus shelter!

The crowd had grown from her arrival – which was a surprise to most, as the Bath engagement had been kept under wraps.

However, when she came back into the street to depart for another engagement at Lacock – it had grown in numbers and she even received a round of applause.


Standing as l was next to Ali Vowles from the BBC we were both surprised and delighted that she shook our hands too.



Richard, how wonderful. I wish I had known about this visit. Lucky you.