By Royal Appointment: Why Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II Wanted to Meet Me

David J Thompson was born in Blackpool in 1942 and emigrated to the USA in 1962. His Lancashire love for co-operatives led him to important roles in the US co-operative sector. When he learned that Her Majesty the Queen was going to Rochdale to participate in a Co-op event, David had to be there. His mother’s earlier training in Blackpool on how to meet the Queen was an investment that paid off decades later. Regretfully, by then David’s mother had passed away but her lesson lived on.

On a Royal Visit to Rochdale, Lancashire, Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, said to Mayor John Beasley, “Well, if David Thompson has come thousands of miles to meet me, I should certainly walk a hundred feet to meet him.”

Moments later, in full view of thousands of well-wishers, Her Majesty walked briskly and purposefully across the Town Square to meet me. Was I ever surprised!

She was invited to Rochdale by the Co-operative Group to open an exhibition in 1995 to commemorate the 150^th Anniversary of the first modern cooperative founded there in 1844.

Informed of the Royal Visit, I asked the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA) if they would appoint me as the representative of US Cooperatives at the event.

Duly appointed, I set off for Rochdale.

I had brought with me a silk banner that said, “The Cooperative League of America” in green on a white silk background. I unfurled the banner and stood across the road from the Library. Soon, the Queen’s motorcade appeared. However, the Queen got out of her Rolls Royce on the opposite side from me and walked straight into the Library without looking around.

The Chief Constable of Rochdale, however, had been waiting patiently for Her Majesty and saw me standing there with my banner for almost an hour. I crossed the road and asked him where I could get the Queen’s attention at her next stop in the Square. He said, “Your best bet is to stand on the north side of the Square with your banner. Once her Majesty has met all the dignitaries and spoken to the school children, she will slowly walk towards her Rolls-Royce in the middle of the square. If there is extra time available, she will stand and look around the gathered crowd. With your American banner, you might stand out enough to attract her attention,” he said.

I saw the Queen walk towards her Rolls-Royce, pause and then survey the crowds on three sides of her. When she looked in our direction, I could see her pause to read my banner. Mine was the only banner in sight. Next, I saw Her Majesty asking questions of Mayor Beasley while they both scrutinised my banner.

The day before, in the Mayor’s Chambers, I had presented Mayor Beasley with a copy of my book, “Weavers of Dreams, Founders of the Modern Cooperative Movement.”

Here’s what Mayor Beasley told me after the Royal Visit:

“Her Majesty was thinking of doing a ‘Royal Walkabout’ and was looking around the crowds in the square. She spotted your banner and could make out the initials USA, but little else. She turned to me and asked, ‘Why would an American be here?’”

“After I looked closer and saw you, I then told Her Majesty, ‘Your Majesty, that’s our David Thompson, and he’s come here all the way from America especially for today’s occasion.’”

Queen Elizabeth II then said to the Mayor, “Well, if David Thompson has come thousands of miles to meet me, I should certainly walk a hundred feet to meet him.”

Her Majesty the Queen is now standing right in front of me with a lovely smile and very blue eyes.

As soon as I saw Her Majesty coming towards me, I stopped taking photos and gave my camera and banner to a person standing next to me. I then looked to the heavens and asked my mother to repeat her instructions to me about how to greet Her Majesty if I ever met her. “In meeting Her Majesty,” she had told me, “one must first wait for the Queen to address you. You cannot speak before she does. Her first words to you are usually in the form of a question. In answering Her Majesty, you must first bow and then say, ‘Your Majesty’ at the beginning of your answer.”

Her Majesty the Queen is now standing right in front of me with a lovely smile and very blue eyes. She focused only on speaking to me. There was a lot going on, with press photographers snapping scores of pictures, many of the people near me waving and shouting best wishes, and her security and the Rochdale police making sure she was safe. But while all this noise and movement was going on, Her Majesty only looked at me. Her focus was almost hypnotic.

Her first question to me was, “I hear you have come from America to be here for this occasion today.”

To which I replied, “Your Majesty, I am proud to be here in Rochdale for this Royal celebration of the founding of the first modern co-op.”

Her Majesty’s next question was, “Do you have many cooperatives in America?” In replying to a second question, the formality my mother had taught me was that your second response is not to repeat “Your Majesty” but to begin with, “Well, Ma’am (as in jam), there are thousands of co-ops in America serving millions of people in many useful ways. They all trace their lineage to the co-op that started in Rochdale in 1844. I am grateful that Your Majesty has graced this occasion.”

“I am very glad I could,” said the Queen. As she turned away, she added,” Please give my sincere wishes to all the cooperators in America.”

Whispering from the heavens again, one more time, Mum reminded me of the protocol that you do not offer to shake her hand unless she first proffers her hand. She did not. I was aware though that she wore gloves for the occasion.

“Yes, Ma’am,” I replied. The Queen then turned to wave at others in the crowd and slowly walked back to the middle of the square.

And the moment my Mum had trained me for over the past 50 years came to a happy ending. I looked up at the heavens and said, “Thank you, Mum.”

My Mum was a dyed-in-the-wool Royalist from birth to death. Born March 13, 1915, she lived under four different monarchs: George V (1910-1936), Edward VIII (1936), George VI (1936-1952), and, lastly, Elizabeth II (1952-2022).

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I need to give my mother full praise for her love and guidance. She brought me up on a menu of history and learning from the past to provide me with a special glimpse of the future. We never passed a historic building without going in and learning what momentous event took place in that castle, keep, cathedral or church. We climbed to the top of the highest of cathedrals and descended below into the scariest of cellars. She taught me to feel the history of the moment by immersing me in the background of the event. All of what she bequeathed me, I try to bring alive in my stories. Thank you, Mum, for the gift you gave me that I now give to others. Your loving son, David, on his 81st birthday, from your first giving me life in the midst of death from war on June 2, 1942.

Thank you, Mum.

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NorthernLife June/July/Aug 25