Lorcan Lunches with the Queen
Some of you may have spotted a familiar face among the guests honoured to be lunching with the Queen at the Livery Companies’ lunch on Tuesday 5 June in Westminster Hall, which were held as part of the celebrations for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Lorcan Murphy (U6S) had been invited by the Drapers’ Company to attend as their Top Scholar and was privileged to find himself seated at the same table as the Queen herself. Other guests seated at the table were: the Speaker of the House; Master Mercer; Lord Great Chamberlain and Captain Edward Addington of the Rifles Battalion. Although the Queen wasn’t particularly talkative during the meal, Lorcan found the rest of the guests interesting and friendly. Captain Addington had been injured by an IED in Afghanistan and received some of his treatment from the “Swift and Bold” Appeal, a charity which our Combined Cadet Force is supporting; Lorcan as the Cadet RSM (Regimental Sergeant Major) of the CCF found this particularly fascinating.
The meal, which consisted of ingredients sourced from the UK (Lyme Bay Crab, Welsh lamb and even apples from the Queen’s own Sandringham estate) was “incredible and could have easily passed for Michelin Starred.”
After the Queen left, Lorcan spent some time at the Draper’s table which had hosted Prince Charles who proved more talkative than the Queen!
Looking back on the lunch, Lorcan said: “It was a great honour not only to attend the lunch but to have been selected to have been seated at Her Majesty’s table, and it is a memory that I will never forget.”