Inspiration Moved Me Brightly

Bizarro world collided with NeverNeverLand this past week for me.  On Tuesday June 29th I received a very unexpected and very welcome invitation from the PMO to attend a special dinner in the presence of Her Majesty and His Royal Highness at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto.  At first I thought I was on an episode of Punk’d or that my kids had submitted something to Pranked.  But as I quickly realized this was simply reality.  So in a whirlwind I made sure I was black tied and Monday morning I hit the road for Toronto.

Arrival at the Royal York was a zoo with the power outage in that part of the city.  Of more concern to me was the potential for a lack of air conditioning.  Being a big man, I overheat quite easily.  The cocktail room was quite spectacular and while mingling, I quickly ran into a couple of familiar faces.  Three of them being past or present Blogging Tories.  Matt from A Step To The Right, Dr. Roy from Dr. Roy’s Blog and Sean from The Politic.

The crowd was prepped on how the introductions to HM and HRH would go down.  It still all seems a bit surreal to me but real enough none the less.  As the crowd waited for the introductions the power came on (thank Goodness!!). We slowly made our way behind the white curtain to meet the Royals.

When my turn came up, the greeter was dressed in his finest military and as he checked my invitation card I thanked him for his service.  He seemed pleasantly taken aback at my remark but seemed to appreciate it.  The announcer confirmed the pronounciation of my name and proceeded to announce me to Her Majesty and His Royal Highness.  I stepped forward first towards the Prime Minister who smiled and greeted me with a firm handshake.  He said it was nice that I could make it .  I then took a step to my right and Her Majesty held her gloved hand out, so as I took it, I bowed and greeted her as well.  Similarly, the Duke of Edinburgh extended a hand to me.  I was quite honoured to receive this formal of a greeting.  Then in her usual friendly self, Mrs. Harper greeted me last and said it was a pleasure to see me again.  The whole process seemed to be a blur to me but it was clear enough for me to know I was in the presence of a truly magnificent institution and heritage and one of the most magnificent monarchs our race will ever know.

Then as Her Majesty entered the whole group joined the singing of God Save The Queen.  It was quite moving.  The speeches and dinner were delightful and the unveiling of a new Hockey Hall of Fame exhibit was interesting to say the least.

As coffee and dessert were served, the group was  serenaded by the Four Canadian Tenors who are world renowned already.  I was especially moved by the second song which was not fully understood as it was mostly in French but I know it was about Victor Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame and La Esmerelda.

Then shortly after this, the Four Tenors sang the National Anthem and once again the crowd joined in.  After this the Royals left the dinner and the crowd mingled quite a bit taking photos in front of the exhibit.  I snuck a couple of the roses from the table and am drying them for the shadowbox.

I did get a few moments to speak with Minister Jason Kenney about inroads into the Greek community, congratulate Minister Flaherty on holding the world at bay on a bank tax, and I got to let Senator Duffy know that a friend of ours is running for Ottawa City Council.  I also got a chance to see Lois Brown again and I met Peter Kent for the first time.  He was very charming.  As was Michael Chong and his wife.

Some photos/items from the evening. (more to come I am sure)