Armed and extremely fabulous

So did the royal pageant float your boat?

Or were you with the anti monarchists today, with their `Don`t Jubilee`ve It` banners?

From about the age of four, there was no doubt in my mind that the royal family was a good thing. You do, when your dad`s in the royalty protection team, working long hours, strange shifts, and entire summers away at Balmoral . Sometimes we got to visit him; stay in the area. I remember marching through deep, dark, pine forests, down to the rushing waters of the Dee, and finding out later that the small boy I`d been chatting to was Prince Andrew.

I always knew, of course, that dad would do anything for me, and my mum and my sister. But then to find out that he`d been selected as a personal protection officer, you realise he`d do anything for the royal family too...like... take a bullet for them. But you know he`s armed much of the time, so you hope it doesn`t come to that. And thankfully, it never did.

So today I spent much of the time not looking at Charles and Camilla weaving through the Piccadilly crowds...but trying to play `spot the bodyguard`. Not exactly difficult.... but I remember hearing so much about the do`s and don`ts. The people you watch; the sounds you`re listening for; the bigger picture.

There were plenty of times when I thought the royals saw more of dad than we did.It was probably true for a while. A royal wedding in Nepal here....trips to Mustique there...Sydney, Tasmania, Malaysia....places we could only dream about. We missed him. But were so proud of him.

And as I`ve mentioned before, the gifts he chose for us were always something special. And there were some members of the royal family who understood how much we`d missed him on long trips away. Twice we got invited for `supper` at royal palaces, to see some of the pictures they`d taken of their trip.

I mean-- HELL-- what do you WEAR?

We took advice on that; chatted, had two fantastic evenings and were made to feel really important. There were always Christmas cards from the royals; a garden party or two, and even boxes of apples from the Sandringham estate.

So, Ma`am. I hope you`ve had a great day. And I hope some of the family you have around you this evening reflecting on it, remember my dad....`McIntyre`, too.Tell them he`s been down at his local, scoffing a hog roast, and is settling down around now to watch a recording of you and the fabulous pageant from the comfort of his armchair.