EMMA Beckford was just seven years old when she met the Queen at the start of her 2001 royal visit.
The granddaughter of former St Helier Constable Robert Le Brocq was chosen to greet Her Majesty with a bouquet of flowers alongside another seven-year-old, Robert Wallis, after her arrival with the Duke of Edinburgh by helicopter at the People’s Park.
It was an appointment which brought the then Helvetia School Year 2 pupil into contact with the Lieutenant-Governor of the time, Sir John Cheshire, the then Bailiff Sir Philip Bailhache, and the team responsible for organising the programme behind the royal visit.
For weeks beforehand, Miss Beckford remembers practising her curtsy and rehearsing precisely how she would hand her flowers over.
‘I was very nervous and I asked my Mum what I should say to her. She suggested “Good morning, your Majesty”, as I gave her the flowers’, she recalled.
When the big day came, Miss Beckford remembers the moments leading up to the presentation as she stood waiting, desperately trying to keep those four words in her mind and thinking about the finer points of her curtsy.
Today, Miss Beckford, who now works at Digital Jersey, remembers that day back in July 2001 with great affection.
‘I was very proud to have met the Queen. It was a moment that I will always remember,’ she said.
