King Charles III came on an official visit to Chelmsford in 1979 where he met apprentices from Marconi’s
A former apprentice at Marconi's, in Chelmsford, has retold the story when he met both Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III – including a brilliant conversation which resulted in the King complimenting his waistcoat. Mark Spearman, 62, was working as one of four sheet metal apprentices at Marconi's in 1979 when the then Prince Charles paid a visit to their work space on Writtle Road in Chelmsford.
Aged 19 at the time, Mark recalls being selected as "the lucky one" from his peers to make something and exhibit it to the Royal. Speaking to EssexLive, he said: "I was very proud to be picked and my family were too. It was a very good day."
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He added: "The day he visited I was very, very nervous. But once he started talking to us all we felt so at ease.
"There were lots of dignitaries from Marconi's and members of the press of course, but after 30 seconds of talking to the Prince you just felt so at ease – it was like we were the only ones in the room. It was really nice and I'll always remember that.
"We spoke about the work that I had done, what I planned to do after my apprenticeship too. I joked that I probably wouldn’t stay at Marconi’s because the wages weren’t very good for skilled men which he laughed at as did the dignitaries."
"The photo of me meeting him there takes pride of place in my home even today," he continued. "I was struck by how short he was! I was a tall young man, I’m still six foot now, but I thought he’d be taller than me yet he wasn’t – so that was a big surprise."
Just two years prior to King Charles' visit to Chelmsford the Queen had been celebrating her Silver Jubilee. As part of the celebrations, Mr Spearman's aunt had made by hand a bold Union Jack waistcoat – a piece of attire loved by the then heir to the throne.
Mr Spearman, who also shook hands with the Queen in her visit to Chelmsford in 1988, said: "I thought it would be a good idea to wear the waistcoat when the Prince came to town. We had to have clean overalls on that day but I’d left mine undone slightly deliberately so that my waistcoat was on show.
"The Prince noticed it and said ‘that’s a very smart outfit you have on there, young man’. It made us all chuckle there. He absolutely loved it and said it was very patriotic of me."
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