"A VIEW FROM THE PALACE" TALK BY SIMON LEWIS

Simon Lewis is currently Vodafone’s Group Corporate Affairs Director and when it was discovered that he spent two years as the Queen’s Communications Director, we wrote to him asking whether he would give a talk on his experiences at Buckingham Palace, as part of a charity evening with a glass of wine and a buffet supper. He readily agreed and the evening of 10th April was set for his talk.

I met Simon prior to the talk and thanked him for giving up his evening to address us. We had around 50 in the audience and I then introduced him. I said that he had a distinguished career in the public relations arena, being the Group Director of Communications and Public Policy for Centrica plc, Director of Corporate Affairs at NatWest Group and the Head of Public Relations at SG Warburg plc. He was President of the Institute of Public Relations in 1997 and is the visiting Professor at the Cardiff School of Journalism. He joined Vodafone as Group Corporate Affairs Director in November 2004 and is also a Trustee of the Vodafone Group Foundation. It was when he was at Centrica that he undertook a two year attachment as the first Communications Secretary to the Queen. I then invited Simon to talk on his experiences in that role.

Simon began by talking briefly about Vodafone and his role there and then he gave an account on how he was recruited for the Buckingham Palace appointment. He described how discrete were the initial approaches were and eventually he was invited to meet with the Queen’s Private Secretary. He was given no idea whether or not he was the sole candidate and it was not until he was invited back a little while later to meet the Queen and Prince Phillip that he realised that he was going to be appointed. Before he met them, he was given instruction on how to make a courtly bow! Simon said that he was understandably nervous but he was put at his ease by the friendly and down to earth meeting he had. It was evident that following the death of Princess Diana, there was the need to improve the image and publicity surrounding the Royal Family and their relations with the general public, as well as with the press. During his two year appointment, he was able to put into place a number of initiatives, which had the desired effect. He admitted that the time went very quickly but he thoroughly enjoyed the experience. In answer to a question, he considered that the security measures which protected the Royal Family did not interfere with his work. In answer to another, he had accompanied the queen’s party on several occasions and that he had been invited back to the Palace after his appointment had concluded.

I thanked Simon for his excellent talk and the audience was very appreciative at the content and the relaxed and often frank recollection of his appointment. During the buffet, I noted that he was almost besieged by the members of the audience with further questions. It was a splendid evening and through his talk, we raised over £350 for my charities, the amount which would increase if matched funding was received from Vodafone.