Sir Kenneth Olisa OBE, Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London, has been the monarch’s representative in the capital for seven years, receiving the late Queen, and now King Charles III, on all official visits in the city.
There are 98 Lord-Lieutenants across the country, one for each ceremonial county.
The role was originally created by King Henry VIII to uphold the dignity of the Crown. Back then, that meant raising the army and quelling riots. Today we leave those to the professionals and so we find other ways of upholding the dignity of our Head of State.
He was in attendance when Elizabeth II’s coffin arrived at RAF Northolt this week, on Saturday he accompanied King Charles III when he visited the Metropolitan Police and tomorrow he will be at the State funeral.
“The first time I met the late Queen, after my appointment as her Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London, was at a Buckingham Palace reception.
Like everyone who meets a member of the Royal Family, suddenly my tongue was about 9ft long, and I found it very hard to speak. But she was welcoming and charming.
The great thing about the Queen is she could make everyone feel completely at ease, because she was truly interested in them.
That is the big difference between Royalty and other VIPs who are there only to be photographed and move on.
When speaking to The Queen she made you feel that you were the only person in the world she was interested in.
For us all, this has been a week like no other, and I am no exception. My relationship with the Queen was not a personal one, but I was privileged to serve her closely on many occasions and so the loss has been very, very emotional for me.
The personal memory of her I treasure which will remain with me until my dying day, came five months into my post.
I had been diagnosed with cancer. On the day before I was going into surgery, I received Her Majesty at a church in Chelsea, for a really complicated visit. Afterwards, I needed to go home and pack for a major operation.
I was trundling on behind her wearing my sword and spurs making sure everything was ok. We came to the end and I had already said goodbye to His Royal Highness, the Duke of Edinburgh, and he was standing waiting to get into the car.
She was shaking my hand and then said ‘I am so sorry to hear you have to go into hospital, I do hope everything works out OK for you’.
I did not know she knew. There was no one with her to whisper in her ear to remind her.
There she was holding my hand, the Queen! Suddenly a horrible time, had, been somehow made bearable.
In my role as Lord-Lieutenant I accompanied her on many memorable occasions. My first engagement was when she famously joked as she was struggling to cut a fruit cake with a ceremonial knife on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the WI. She was beaming, that was an example of her humour.
Most movingly, I was there when she visited Grenfell Tower, two days after the fire.
I had been asked to lead her down the path and point out the building to her.
As I did, I said ‘Ma’am, that is Grenfell Tower’. She said: ‘I know, I’ve already seen it’. A sort of ‘Why would I not know?’
There was real concern there, you could see in the grim set of her face that she was clearly deeply moved. She spent a lot of time talking to everybody. This was not a lightning visit, this was a really in-depth connection with the people.
She met survivors and aid workers. She thanked the emergency services, some of them had been sleeping on the ground after working 24 hours, but she helped to lift them up.
This week, being at RAF Northolt to receive her coffin was overwhelming.
First, this enormous plane was enormous came slowly down. Then down came the rear ramp, and down the ramp came the military carrying the coffin, it was one of the most moving moments.
The hearse drove slowly past the Princess Royal, the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for Defence, the mayor of the borough, and me.
As it passed by, the Princess Royal curtseyed in deference to her mother. It was the most poignant moment.
For me, visiting Westminster Hall to see Her Majesty Lying-in-State has brought the beginning of closure.
It was so moving to see all the other people in the queue. The building contains a thousand years of our Royal history.
But on that day, it was filled with ordinary people, filing by bowing or curtseying or making the sign of the cross. All thanking our Queen who had kept Her Coronation vow to serve us all her life.
What Her Majesty’s passing has done is reminded us of our core British values, looking for the good in people, helping others, community, duty, service, faith.
They were her values, and we have been jolted into reflecting on them. The hundreds of thousands of people who made the pilgrimage to Westminster Hall weren’t shouting at each other, they weren’t divided.
Just as we behaved in the pandemic and celebrated with the Platinum Jubilee, they helped each other and enjoyed the collective experience bound by a collective admiration for our Monarch and what we stand for.
The Accession means that I will fulfil this role for the new king. Yesterday, I was honoured to receive him at the Metropolitan Police command centre which coordinates the mind-boggling job of keeping us safe over the funeral period.
He spent time with people from the police, the fire brigade, the ambulance service and the Army. Everyone there was so bucked up that he had taken the time to express his gratitude.
Following in his mother’s footsteps, King Charles has demonstrated his commitment to service and duty. His punishing schedule of official appointments has left him no time to grieve in the way that any of us would on the death of a parent.
Instead he is working ceaselessly to make sure everyone else gets through this sad time successfully. I am sometimes asked what sort of King he will make, to which I point the questioner to his record.
King Charles III is a man who has devoted his life to the service of others and to causes which we all care about – the environment, justice and human-friendly architecture, to name but three.
On Monday I will attend the funeral in another of my roles – that of High Bailiff of Westminster Abbey.
Another ancient role which dates back to the days when the City of Westminster was run by the Abbey. Back then, it meant policing the streets, however in the 21st century I am merely an advisor to the Dean.
But, on the day, I will be part of the team that makes sure the many dignitaries from around the world, leave having been reminded of what is good in our country.
Our history, our traditions and, most importantly, our values. Just think, we have changed our Head of State and our Prime Minister, seamlessly and without a shot being fired, a stone being thrown or a barricade being built. This must make us the envy of so many countries.
Monday will be very, very emotional and although it will be a day for British stiff upper lips, I doubt there will be anyone who doesn’t shed a tear or two.
It is hard to explain, but there was something magical about The Queen – something that really touched our heart strings – that unique combination of history, duty and fun.
This really struck home for me at the beginning of the Platinum Jubilee concert with the Paddington Bear sketch. I confess that, stiff upper lip or not, when Her Majesty took the marmalade sandwich out of Her handbag, I burst into tears. To this day I don’t know why that happened.
But I do know that I hope the Archbishop of Canterbury doesn’t mention Marmalade sandwiches in his sermon on Monday!"
