With less than a week to go until The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrive in Malaysia, the High Commission team is in overdrive trying to ensure that all of the events have been planned to the last detail and that we have the protocol, security and media requirements just right.
I feel incredibly proud of how the High Commission has risen to this task, and with the outstanding support of the Malaysian Government and other partners like the British Malaysian Chamber of Commerce and the Royal Society, I am confident that we will deliver a visit to remember.
So, I’m sure that you are keen to know exactly what the Couple will be doing in their three days here. They will arrive on 13 September and will immediately travel to a lunch hosted by the Malaysian Prime Minister at his residence in Putrajaya.
That afternoon, the Duke and Duchess will visit Hospis Malaysia, one of the country’s foremost palliative care institutions. The Duchess, who has a long-standing interest in palliative care through her patronage of East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices, will deliver her maiden speech overseas and will help to kick-start Malaysia’s national paediatric palliative care programme. The Duke and Duchess will meet some of the Hospis’s patients and will also illustrate a wet-brick which will be placed in the reception area.
That evening, His Majesty The Agong, will host a glittering official dinner for the Couple at Istana Negara. As you can imagine, getting the protocol arrangements right for this event has been quite tricky: from agreeing who should be present during the official audience with Their Majesties to the dress code for the event, every last detail has been poured over. Suffice it to say that my wife is using the event as an excuse to wear out the numbers on my credit card!
The following morning, the Couple will have a chance to meet High Commission staff and our families before the main public event in the programme. Their Royal Highnesses will attend a Cultural Fair in Kuala Lumpur City Centre Park, which lies beneath the iconic Petronas Twin Towers, and will see and hear elements representing Malaysia’s wonderful diversity.
I would encourage all of you to come down to the Park and to bring your families and friends. Feel free to deck yourself out in red, white and blue, and to wave furiously your British and Malaysian flags. For more details on the event, please see the video below and follow our website, Facebook page and Twitter account. And if you can’t make it to the Park, you can always post a message to the Royal Couple using the comment box below or via our social media channels.
The Couple will then attend a business lunch in the KL Convention Centre where The Duke will deliver a speech to 1,200 guests highlighting the strong prosperity and cultural ties between the UK and Malaysia.
That afternoon, the High Commissioner will host a Diamond Jubilee Tea Party at his residence and this will be an opportunity for the Couple to say thank you to the unsung heroes of Malaysian civil society and to those who have contributed greatly to the bilateral relationship. I imagine that the Couple will be especially keen to hear about Pandelela Rinong’s successful participation in the London Olympics and Dato’ Michelle Yeoh’s recent role as Aung San Suu Kyi in The Lady.
At the Tea Party, the two winners of our Ultimate Royal-Tea contest will also have a chance to meet Their Royal Highnesses. I’m sure you’ll agree that Ashikin Mastura Binti Haji Amirudin’s and Ser Yin Ting’s images show a unique blend of quality, composition and creativity. And congratulations also to the 50 runners-up who will all receive Boh’s specially blended Diamond Jubilee tea.
We will take Their Royal Highnesses high into the canopy so that they can have a bird’s eye view of the rainforest and perhaps even spot some wildlife. I probably shouldn’t relay this story but on one of the recee trips, we found a green pit viper in the proposed media tree – let’s hope that it doesn’t re-appear during the visit!
Later that day, the Couple will take a private walk into the rainforest. We hope that mother nature will cooperate and that they will have a chance to see a wild Orang Utan at close quarters.
So that’s plan. Clearly with any high profile visit, things are not always going to run smoothly and we have to prepare for any and all eventualities. So, if our motorcade does break down outside your house, and the Duke and Duchess knock on your front door, please do let them in and perhaps offer them a cup of tea – they like Earl Grey with a drop of milk!