Such a sad and tragic announcement from Buckingham Palace

Queen Eizabeth II has died. A very very sad moment for the whole country.The Royal Family had gathered at Balmoral to be with the Queen as her health deteriorated. I had previously written that I hoped she would recover and would live for many more years. In such a turbulent political and social time, we probably needed the Queen more than ever. I met her only once in my journalistic career. That was in 1986 during the Commonwealth Conference in the Bahamas in the summer of 1986. I was then Diplomatic Correspondent of the Daily Express. I and my fellow diplomatic correspondents from the other major newspapers had been invited to attend a cocktail party on board HMY Britannia in the port of Nassau. Those were the glory days when the Queen had her own royal yacht. We all shook her white-gloved hand as we arrived on the deck and waited for all the Commonwealth leaders to turn up and join us. Most of them did, on time, but there were some errant prime ministers and presidents who had decided to journey to Britannia up river by boat instead of by chauffered limousine like everyone else. They got hit by a strong wind and had to take cover which delayed their arrival by about half an hour. As I recall, one of them was Rajiv Ghandi,the Indian prime minister. I think Kenneth Kaunda, the Zambian president, was also in the river boat. The Queen was, as they say, not amused. Cocktail parties on board Brittania, like everything else to do with the Royal Family, were planned with impeccable detail. They did not allow for the late arrival of guests who just fancied taking a trip up the river before meeting Her Majesty. The Queen chatted with us amicably for ten minutes or so but then she moved to the guardrail and started drumming her fingers on the immaculately polished wood and peered over the side as if looking for the lost leaders. She clearly thought it was bad form to keep her waiting. But when they eventually arrived, looking like sheepish schoolboys all humble and apologetic, the Queen produced her dazzling smile and welcomed them on board her yacht. There was no hint of a scolding. But we reporters knew better. She had definitely not looked pleased as the minutes ticked by. What laughs! Today her brilliant smile will live on as we come to terms with her death.