The Queen: Ex-firefighter pays tribute to Her Majesty

Richard Coates, 77, has spent most of his lifetime in the fire services, travelling all across the country to work and has taken time to reminisce on his experiences with the Queen, who he met on two occasions.

The Hayling Island resident, who is now an independent fire consultant as well as being chairman for the British Standards Institute for Fire Safety, was presented to the Queen as she opened the Fire Service Technical College at Moreton-in-the-Marsh in Gloucestershire.

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Richard said: ‘I had the privilege of meeting the late Queen twice during my fire service career.

‘As a student officer on the accelerated promotion course we were chosen to carry out various functions when Her Majesty attended the college in May 1974.

‘Mine was to present the sovereign with a pen to sign the visitors’ book.’

The second occasion that he was presented to the Queen was when she was accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh to a World War II display at the Earls Court arena, which saw Richard lead a team of Kent fire service personnel in the events

Richard added: ‘Being presented to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh was an honour and made more memorable as the Duke made one of his off the cuff comments to Dame Vera Lynn in the line up: “A little off-key tonight my dear”.

Amongst his time in the industry, Richard worked in Scotland and was also asked to organise, alongside a team, a fire engine that was suitable to go to Balmoral Castle in the event of a fire and he said that that was just another part of his career that is important.

Richard said: ‘It really is the end of an era. She really was brilliant and always did things the way they were supposed to be done. She served us well and I suppose we are going to see a big change in the way that things are done now.

‘I have worked it out and it will have to be more than 100 years before someone will be able to reign as long as she did.’