On Meeting Prince Charles: Being Disembodied as a Good Baha'i Should

Photo: The Commonwealth Day Observance Service at Westminster Abbey

Barney at Barnabas Quotidianus has the most fascinating stories to tell about attending the recent Commonwealth Day at Westminster Abbey. Say what did the Prince say? Read "Shaking Hands with Prince Charles and Camilla." Then read the accompanying post which provides background on the event. Barney is on a roll.

I saw where the Prince was and went and placed myself firmly just behind the line of people who were being presented to him. As he finished a conversation he caught my eye. The other Commonwealth DSG [Deputy Secretary General], who was accompanying him, couldn’t present me, since he hadn’t had time to find out who I was. So I acted against protocol (the Queen is very firm about the not-speaking-until-you-are-spoken-to rule - and I’d managed to upset her by doing this one Commonwealth Day some years ago) and said, ‘I’m from the Baha’i community, sir.’

He smiled and said, ‘Were you at the service?’

‘I was the Baha’i reader,’ I told him.

‘I couldn’t see you.’

‘I was in the middle of the Nave, sir.’

‘You were disembodied,’ the Prince said, preparing to move on. And as he prepared to shake hands with the next person, he half turned his head, smiled, and said, ‘Just as a good Baha’i should be.’

John Barnabas (aka Barney) Leith, Barnabas quotidianus