I'd forgotten in all this
The nearest I ever came to a royal was when I was doing some electrical work for a veeeery posh hairdresser in Knightsbridge
My workmate came and told me to take a peek in the back room, a private salon, which I did
There was Princess Di under a hair dryer - I got a lovely smile
Always had a soft spot fer her because of that - and because of her humanity towards the shitty landmine industry

The other'Royal' story that touched me personally concerned one of our Traveller singers, Mikeen McCarthy
He was camped with his family in a private yard behind the Mile End Road in Eat London and had organised a collection around the Traveller sites to raise money for 'Save the Children'
One day he received a message saying the Patron, Princess Anne would like to thank him personally for the donation.
A date was arranged and she turned up in the Limo with two burley 'suits' who stood at the gates while she did the business with Mikeen and Nonie (and a photographer)
Somehow, the mayor of Hackney had got wind of the meeting and had decided to use it as a photo-op., so he turned up in fill regailia, only to be turned away by the bouncers at the gate
His Ludship made his way around the fenced site and beckoned one of the Traveller kids and asked her to "tell the lady" he would like to speak to her
The youngster strode across the yard, swung open the door of the van and roared "Hey Missus"
"Hey Missus" was the title of the story when it appeared in the Hackney Gazzette a week later - still got the cutting
We've still got a photo of Mikeen, Noneie and "Hey Missus" taken by the photographer during the interview
Jim Carroll