by Christine Day
Christine Day is the daughter of the first British Ambassador to Bulgaria Sir William Harpham (1964-1966), who presented his credentials as an Ambassador in a cold January day in 1964. Christine’s story is a recollection of this day.
Christine Day was a special guest at the Queen’s Birthday Party 2014 that took place on 12 June – just as on 12 June 1964 when Sir William Harpham hosted his first Queen’s Birthday Party as British Ambassador to Bulgaria. Ambassador Jonathan Allen and Christine Day unveiled a photograph of Sir William Harpham inspecting the troops as part of the ceremony for presenting his credentials.
“He strode forth, visibly resplendent in his regalia, but secretly enveloped from the waist upwards in the best quality newsprint.” – Christine Day
The Ambassador had to present his credentials to the Bulgarian Government in full and formal diplomatic uniform on a day when the temperature was well below freezing point.
The ceremony included inspecting an honour guard of troops and addressing them in Bulgarian: “zdravei voynitsi” (welcome troops), and then “dovizhdane voynitsi” (goodbye troops). My father, a stickler for precision, practised these greetings in his office, delivering them in an appropriately stentorian voice, and greatly alarming his secretary in the adjoining room who thought he was being attacked.
On the day itself, my mother was appalled at the thought of her husband standing about in sub-zero temperatures in a uniform which was clearly only just adequate for a summer garden party in Beirut. She pleaded with him to wear an overcoat as he would otherwise inevitably contract pneumonia. He expostulated that, in a Communist country of all places, Her Majesty could not possibly be represented by a man in an overcoat and that the full panoply of gold-leaf decorated uniform had to be on display, whatever the climatic conditions….
A compromise was reached and he agreed to wear, under his uniform jacket, sheets of the air-mail edition of “The Times”, well known for its excellent insulation qualities! He eventually strode forth, visibly resplendent in his regalia complete with bicorn, but secretly enveloped from the waist upwards in the best quality newsprint.
Sir Roger Carrick recalls discovering the secret when translating for my father during the ensuing formal talk with the President – “Sitting at a table, and leaning forward and back in animated conversation, His Excellency, by thus flexing his muscles, caused the Thunderer to appear above the diplomatic collar”.
