Taking the royal tea to China

Press, 11 October 1986, Page 14

Taking the royal tea to China

The Queen arrives in Shanghai tomorrow, the first Western monarch to penetrate the Bamboo Curtain. GILLIAN FRANKS reports.

Among the 30 crates and trunks which will accompany the Queen on her historic journey to China starting on October 12 will be a hermeticallysealed tin. And the Queen wouldn’t dream of going on any journey to exotic foreign parts without it. Labelled, simply, “Sausages,” it contains 25kg of • one of her favourite foods, made to a traditionalcountry recipe.

During more than three decades of foreign travel — which have seen her eat everything from blackbirds to doormice — the Queen often yearns for a simple, English meal.

Apart from sausages, there will be supplies of specially-blended tea, made with Malvern water, fruit cake, biscuits, mintsauce, jam and barleysugars — which the Queen sucks for energy during her exhausting schedules.

In preparing for the Queen’s trip — she is the first Western monarch to visit China — Buckingham Palace staff have

had to rewrite what’s jokingly known as "the holiday brochure.” That’s the name given to the secret files that control all the Queen’s foreign visits in which every lesson that has been learned on her travels is written down, to help with future tours. "But there is nowhere quite like China, so in some respects, we’re starting from scratch,” a Palace aide said. This has meant that the week-long stay in China has taken 11 months of intensive planning. Experts have planned everything, including her timetable, luggage, accommodation, protocol, walkabouts — and food. The Chinese tradition of serving many different courses in small quantities, should suit the Queen well. She will probably try chopsticks, too — at least for the benefit of photographers. In charge of packing is the Queen’s travelling yeoman, Frank Holland. It is his job to make sure ( that nothing is left out of dozens of cases and trunks marked, simply, “The Queen.” She has to be sure that she has the right clothes for all occasions. Extremes of temperatures in the Chinese capital,

Peking, can mean very hot days and bitingly cold nights. The Queen will also have a supply of those large, see-through umbrellas she takes everywhere, so she can see and be seen, if it rains. As she has remarked: “I’m a jinx on the weather, wherever I go.” The Queen and Prince Philip will arrive in Shanghai on the Royal yacht, Britannia.

' On board will be a I ceremonial band and some 20 to 30 members of > the Royal household, in : addition to the crew. They will include two , private secretaries, a doc- : tor, two ladies-in-waiting, a valet, hairdresser and at : least 30 security men. ! So seriously does the Queen take her historic s visit to China, that she’s i made a strenuous effort to l lean a smattering of Mandarin Chinese — the

country’s official language — and intends to use as many Chinese words as possible in her speeches. A linguist, brought in to teach her, Li Xinchu, reported: “The Queen is very interested in our language. We have provided her with some tapes of Chinese speech. She laughed when she asked me what the words were for ‘My husband and I’ but I did not really understand why it was funny!” Many of the officials the Queen will meet can speak English, but the veteran Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, does not, and will have to converse with his guest through an interpreter. Now 82, he is one of the Queen’s biggest fans, and it was his hard work and persistence over eight years which led to her China trip. He first sent an invitation in 1978, and since then has been chipping away at all the obstacles preventing such a visit. The final barrier came down in 1984, when Britain agreed to terms to hand Hong Kong back to China.

Deng has taken a personal hand in making sure the Queen’s stay will be memorable — for both sides. He told British officials it was his ambition to personally show the Queen the sights of Peking. Despite his frail health, he also plans to host a banquet for her in the Great Hall of the People, and attend a traditional Buckingham Palace-style

garden party, which the Queen will give in the grounds of the British Embassy. Arrangements have also been made for the Queen to meet ordinary Chinese people in walkabouts. The Queen herself insists on these ... she believes they are the most important factor in maintaining the Royal Family’s image. Her security advisers were delighted to discover that a walkabout in China is probably one of the safest in the world — the Chinese are scrupulously polite and dislike too much bodily contact, so there will be no danger of the Queen being jostled. If the tour does end in embarrassment, it will be an embarrassment of riches. The Queen could emerge through the Bamboo Curtain with the biggest Chinese takeaway the world has ever seen. Nearly £1 million worth of presents are expected to be handed over by the generous Chinese. The Queen will be followed home by a backup aeroplane, loaded with gifts. If past experience is any guide, they can include anything from an elephant to a cuddly toy. And they all have to be found a home. So, animals donated by the Chinese will go to zoos, toys to children’s homes or hospitals, and decorative items will be placed in the Queen’s homes around Britain.

— Copyright Features International