Jennie Bond: 5 encounters with our new King

As a broadcaster and journalist, Jennie Bond has spent many years in the presence of Royalty. In celebration of the King’s Coronation, our Cruise Miles® Ambassador recalls her 5 most memorable encounters with our new King: 

One of the first things I noticed about Prince (as he then was) Charles was that he had an eye for detail, particularly for anything mildly quirky. Way back in the 90s, I had a habit of wearing white stilettos pretty much wherever I went. And sometimes, my job as the BBC’s Royal Correspondent took me to places where white stilettos simply did not belong. That was how I found myself stumbling uncomfortably through a field of corn stubble in New Zealand as the Prince drove by in a Land Rover. He leant casually out of the window, smiling broadly. “Ah!” he chortled. “I see you have the wrong shoes again, Miss Bond.” It was the first of several good-natured jibes that Charles directed at my footwear over the many years that I have reported on him. 

The Royal Family rarely see life as it is for the rest of us. And that’s because their presence alters our reality. The old adage about everywhere smelling of fresh paint when a royal visit takes place is sadly true. And it’s not what the family wants! On a trip to India in 1992, I was travelling with Prince Charles to a slum on the outskirts of New Delhi. It turned out to be the cleanest, freshest-smelling slum you could ever encounter. Even the rats looked well-groomed. Afterwards, he turned to me and said he wished so much that he could just stop the car somewhere and march in unannounced. Sadly, that is never likely to happen. 

Our new King loves his gardens at Highgrove and is only too happy to show them off to visitors. I’ve been lucky enough to be invited to his home twice - to admire the grounds and to chat with Charles over a cup of tea (and one of his Duchy biscuits!) There was so much I’d love to have asked him, particularly in those difficult Diana years, but I stuck to the safe territory of gardening and farming. His passion for nature and his antipathy to pesticides and genetic engineering were all-consuming. He was a man way ahead of his time and, after the mockery he endured for talking to his plants and loving his trees, Charles is now a modern-day hero in the battle to protect the planet. 

A date seared in my memory is the 26th of January 1994. It was Australia Day and the start of an Antipodean tour by the Prince. In Sydney’s Tumbalong Park, he was treated to a rather tedious, prize-giving ceremony. Suddenly, I heard something that sent shockwaves through my body - and made headline news around the world. The crack of a pistol ripped through the park, followed swiftly by another. At the same instant, a young man catapulted himself out of the audience and onto the stage - he seemed to be flying through the air on a dangerously direct path to the Prince. His body tore through the microphone stand, sending it crashing to the ground with an electrifying clatter. In a split second, a sleepy afternoon ceremony in the park had been transformed into a real-life drama. I remember thinking out loud that we were witnessing an assassination attempt on the Prince of Wales. The stage was now a seething mass of police and security men, the gunman was pinned to the floor, and the Prince, looking bewildered rather than frightened, was shielded by his protection officer, who had unceremoniously shoved him to the side. Gradually, we learned that this had not been any kind of assassination attempt, the gun was no more than a starting pistol and the “assassin” was a student intent on drawing attention to the plight of Cambodian boat people. Nevertheless, it was a dramatic story and one that kept me awake and working flat out for the next 36 hours. 

I was at Windsor on the 9th of April 2005 to report on the wedding of our new King to the woman he had loved for more than 30 years, Camilla Parker Bowles. As I watched them leaving Windsor’s Guildhall, looking rather anxious about the reception they might get from the crowds, I was as relieved as they were to hear the cheers and good wishes from those around me. I knew and liked Diana, Princess of Wales, but I saw firsthand how unhappy the so-called fairytale royal marriage had become. I know and like Camilla, too. She is down-to-earth, warm, funny and infinitely patient. Diana once told me that she accepted that Charles’ love for Camilla always had been and would always remain stronger than any marriage he might have made with another woman. 

Finally, on that day in Windsor 18 years ago, Charles had his darling wife at his side. She has been there ever since - and he is a much better man, and a far more contented King, because of her.