Thursday, February 28, 2013 -
2012 was one of the most anticipated years for some time for Great Britain. It came and went, and wow was it special! A magnificent celebration of our heritage and sporting prowess – take a moment to recall the flotilla, the concerts, the fireworks, the torch, the sporting achievements, and above all the medals, and you might agree, that 2012 was a year of celebration that rekindled our sense of national pride while lifting the gloom of economic austerity.
2012 was a year that saw many of us making a journey to catch sight of the Queen as she toured the country or to London to watch the incredible flotilla of boats as they made their way down the Thames during that incredibly wet Diamond Jubilee weekend. Others were lucky enough to see some of the biggest names in the music business perform in that fabulous concert outside Buckingham Palace. A little later in the summer thousands of us travelled to the Olympic Park on a surprisingly quiet London transport system to be enthralled by the London Games. 2012 turned out to be a year of colour, pageantry and achievement, and a year when I suspect many of us shed tears of pride as the incredible calendar of sporting events played out and the Royal Standard was raised again and again and again.
The year was a great one for me too and in some small way reflected the glamour and excitement of the nation’s royal and sporting year. It began on February 13th at the London Palladium when I found myself on stage with the musical superstar Robin Gibb at the Soldiers’ Coming Home Valentine’s concert. I was invited to compere the event that saw Robin Gibb perform, sadly for the very last time, while presenting a cheque to the wonderful Coming Home charity. What an incredible event that was – a very special night that will always be etched on my memory.
On March 6th I was invited to Buckingham Palace to meet the patron of Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) Princess Anne. I am a charity ambassador for the RDA who do the most wonderful work around the country. The glitz and the glamour continued as later in the month I attended the Soldiering on Through Life Trust ball in London where I presented an award to an injured soldier with Gloria Hunniford and Mike Reid. There was hardly a dry eye in the house that night. What heroes our soldiers are!
In April I met up with Lord Sebastian Coe and Dame Kelly Holmes for a private tour around the Olympic stadium. Having a sneak peak at the Olympic park gave me an incredible sense of excitement about the pending London Games and reminded me of the terrible disappointment I felt when poised to go to the Seoul Olympics my champion horse died of colic just 12 weeks beforehand. That month I was back on stage, this time at Westminster Hall presenting at a charity event surrounding the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. The highlight of my year however arrived in May when I was knighted for my services to equestrianism in Malta. Dame Emma Brown! I still can’t believe it.
Shortly after the Olympic Torch relay took place around our shores. I was glued to the news each night feeling more excited as the build-up to the Olympics began and then just a few days before the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations I found myself in the illustrious surroundings of the House of Lords for another charity event. Polo at Guards followed on behalf of the RDA, and over the same weekend I compered a charity fashion show at Warwick Castle before rushing down to London to watch the Trooping of the Colour on June 16th.
July came and went as I presented the rosettes and trophies at the RDA National Championships, attended Polo for Heroes in St Albans and then found the spotlight firmly turned on me when I appeared on tv’s ChrissyB show talking about my campaign to make riding safer and the forthcoming launch of Revo – my new range of protective clothing for young riders.
In July and August I was transfixed by the Olympics and the fantastic television coverage of it. How I would have loved to have been part of the show jumping team that claimed gold. Still it didn’t stop me cheering on all our athletes throughout the games! There was so much choice on the BBC that if the equestrianism wasn’t on I hardly knew which sport to tune into. The excitement continued because in September I was invited to attend the Paraolympics in Greenwich when I met our medal winning dressage team riders including Lee Pearson and Sophie Christiansen.
In the same month some wonderful invites came my way as I was a guest at the Oval Cricket ground and at Manchester Utd when the team played Tottenham Hotspur. I sat behind Gary Neville and Roy Hodgeson in the stand and was fortunate enough to be invited into the Directors’ Box. And as a refreshing break from sport, you can imagine my delight in meeting Ronan Keating when I attended the Piers Morgan Show!
And all of this was going on while I was trying to put in four hours’ training a day to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. As it turned out, my ascent on that particular mountain in October turned out to be the toughest sporting challenge I have ever faced. I suffer from asthma and the altitude, damp and cold conditions don’t really agree with me! Anyway I made it to the summit – albeit gasping for air, and as a result raised several thousands of pounds which will go towards research into brain tumours in children –something I have personal experience of and feel passionate about.
I realised a long-awaited desire to eat at the Waterside Inn in Bray after Kilimanjaro and I think I deserved it because the climb had certainly left me hungry! Alain Roux took me to food heaven at his celebrated eaterie and I can honestly say it was worth the 4 month wait to get a reservation. In the same month I had the privilege to meet the Princess Royal and all the Paraolympians at Sadlers Hall once again before enjoying a ‘right royal knees up’ in Whitehall at a Henry V111 private cellar charity event. And while my wonderful year fittingly closed at the renowned horse tournament at Olympia in December, it also ended for all of us appropriately with the happy anticipation of a royal baby on the way. 2012 was an unforgettable year, it was one of celebration, of pride and of hope – a year that enthralled us and made us proud to be British.
