DEDICATED monarchist and Coventry councillor David Skinner has met the Queen at a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace.
The Conservative councillor, former RAF serviceman and diplomat makes no secret of his loyalty and devotion to Her Majesty – something he has often slipped in to speeches at the Council House and elsewhere.
So it was a special day for him when on Thursday, June 1, the councillor and his wife Sheila – who also once worked for HM Diplomatic Service – were among Coventry City Council representatives invited to the palace for the regular garden party event.
Westwood councillor Skinner was among those in wheelchairs who the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh stopped to have a brief chat with.
He said: “It was very kind of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to make a special walk-past of the people in wheelchairs. Sheila could not have pushed me for the distances involved, so we invested in a motorised mobility scooter, which I shall use for any other long distances.
“Both the Queen and the Duke separately commented on it being powered and we had a polite conversation before they went on to speak to others.
“I have been on crutches now for about 20 years, as a very long-term result of serving in Africa.
“You know my views about our magnificent Sovereign,” added Coun Skinner, who with Sheila has five married children and five grandchildren.
“This was my first time at the Palace and it was very interesting. Sheila had been before with ladies from the WI. We spoke to visitors from business, HM Forces, churches etc.
“We were so proud that the Monarch whom I served all my life spoke to us personally. My three Queen’s Commissions, written on parchment and signed by Her Majesty personally, are the most important documents in my life.
“I hold two degrees (Politics and International Affairs) of which I am also proud, but nothing compares with a document that only one person in the entire world can sign.”
The other city council repesentatives were Lord Mayor Tony Skipper and Labour councillor Balvinder Kaur.
The Lord Mayor and long-serving Labour councillor for Radford, who attended with his daughter Helen, said: “It was a privilege to be invited and the afternoon was an extremely enjoyable one.”
Tony Skipper and daughter Helen at the palace
