October, 1985 I walked into Washington’s National Gallery of Art for the first time as an “exhibition aid.”  The Gallery was hosting Charles and Diana, the Prince and Princess of Wales, to cut the ribbon opening “Treasure Houses of Britain.”  This was then, and I believe still is, the largest and most ambitious special exhibition ever arranged by any museum in the world.

You can’t imagine how excited I was – my first real job after staying home to raise our kids for ten years.  For some reason the night before I decided to enhance my look by adding a reddish rinse to my dark hair color.  It should have just lightly tinted and highlighted – but I forgot I had a perm in my hair.  Perms make hair porous, and my hair was apparently VERY porous, because when I got out of the shower and looked, my hair was not gently highlighted.  It was the color of carrots.

I screamed and tried rubbing it with a towel.  No change.  So I did the only thing I could think of – got back in the shower and washed and washed and washed my hair.  Do you think this worked?  No, it did not.  I was stuck with hideous, carrot colored hair and there was nothing I could do about it.  Really, it was hideous.

So I walked in the staff entrance of the Gallery, with my head held high and my heart low with embarrassment.  Oh well.

Inside, about 20 of us were directed into a small side room.  No one said why.  On a television we could see the royals enter the Gallery, go up the stairs with our director, J. Carter Brown, cut a ribbon, smile for cameras, and go into the exhibit.

Twenty minutes passed.  Then the door at the far end of the room opened and in walked Charles and Diana with Carter.  She was still a shy girl and when she saw us she took a step back.  But Charles is a pro, and he walked right in, stopping in front of a woman a few feet away from me.  Diana followed him and stood silently at his shoulder.  But apparently that conversation didn’t go well, as they didn’t linger.

The Prince looked my way, I smiled, and he stepped in front of me, Diana still silent at his left elbow.  She was, I have to say, the most exquisitely beautiful human being I’ve ever seen.  Her hair was not blond.  It was GOLD.  You know that old saying, that skin is “peaches and cream” or “porcelain?”  Well, her skin was like fine Chinese porcelain.  She literally glowed.

And Charles looked pretty good to me too!  He also has beautiful skin.  He was slightly tan and healthy looking.  He is tall enough that I didn’t see his bald spot, and he was so charming – just as a Prince should be!  In retrospect I came to believe the reason he chose to talk to me was BECAUSE of my red hair.  The Brits love red hair – even ugly red hair like I had.

Because I’m a lifelong reader, and odd stuff sticks in my brain, I knew the protocol for a conversation with a royal: you only speak to them to answer a question THEY ask.  And Charles did it really well.  Well, he’d had a lifetime of practice.  He asked me questions about the exhibition – which I had barely seen.  He asked if I thought visiting the exhibit would encourage people to visit Britain – as if my opinion mattered.  Well, yes, I thought it would.  Then how will they know where to go?  Oh, sir, there are brochures in the book shop at the end of the exhibit from all the “treasure houses.”  And so on.

We must have talked for 5 minutes or so.  I kept thinking about all the guests at the White House State Dinner the night before who didn’t get a WORD of conversation.  But I, yes I, ordinary old Melinda Bates, had a CONVERSATION with Charles, Prince of Wales.  Oh boy!

When the royals left the room I ran out to the large foyer, looking for the press.  I just KNEW I was going to get interviewed and be on TV that night.  After all, they’d been interviewing people who were standing behind a snow fence two blocks away from the royals – and I had a conversation!

Well, what I hadn’t expected was that the royals got in a car and headed off to have lunch with Paul and Bunny Mellon in Upperville, so the reporters all got in THEIR cars and drove after them.  When I got to the foyer it was empty!  Damn!  This was too good not to share but what could I do?

The only thing I could: picked up a phone and CALLED 200 of my closest friends to say, “You won’t believe what just happened to me!”

This, again, was my very first day on the job at the National Gallery.  First day of my new career in visitor services.  And I went home thinking, “Holy cow!  I think I’m REALLY going to like this job!”

Prince and Princess of Wales at NGA 1985

Arrival Ceremony from a bird’s eye view

The Nov. 21 edition of the Washington Post has a photo montage of State Dinners from President Eisenhower to Bush 43 – wow, did these bring back some amazing memories!

Take a look at the Emperor and Empress of Japan, the Clintons’ first State Visit.  Nothing like starting at the top – there aren’t a lot of Emperors left in the world, are there?  Planning for this, and any State Visit, takes many months, and begins when the State Dept. reaches out to the suggested country.  Of course, it would be very strange and rude for a potential guest to decline an invitation to the world’s most famous House.  But then the real work begins – coordinating schedules to find a date that works for both countries.  Once that’s nailed down, planning at the White House begins.

The first part of a State Visit is the Arrival Ceremony on the South Lawn – and I organized ALL of these for the Clintons.  Like everything dictated by protocol, it’s a tightly choreographed dance.  First are the invited guests : Members of Congress – who rarely come , personal friends of POTUS and FLOTUS,  who get to stand right in front, random celebrities who are invited to the State Dinner that night and don’t need all day to primp, groups of school children and organizations related to the guest country.

The press are lined up standing on risers facing the low podium.  The President and First Lady stand just outside the Dip Room as the limo with the guests arrives.  The four “principals” walk to the Lawn, with the spouses standing to the side and the Heads of State walking to the podium.  The two anthems are played by the Marine Band.  (Americans need to learn to shut up and stand at attention for these – it’s respectful!)  The President makes welcoming remarks about the long, warm relationship between the two countries, and the Visitor responds with warm remarks about … the long, warm relationship between the two countries.  You could sum it all up as “Yada yada yada Thomas Jefferson yada yada, Abraham Lincoln yada yada yada …

Next the “President’s Own” colonial style marching band … marches and plays colonial era martial music.  They’re very colorful and fun.   The two leaders march off to review the troops standing at crisp attention.  In hot weather it’s always fun to watch for the occasional fainting soldier.  This is actually a good reason to NOT hold these events on Mondays, ‘cause the soldiers are young and tend to spend the weekends partying, and are majorly hung over on Monday mornings.  Anyway, they are specially trained to faint by falling backwards.  If they do that, there are spotters standing behind the formation ready to just haul the unconscious soldier back and away.  Occasionally you can see a pair of empty shoes where the soldier used to be!

After all this the two leaders go off to the Oval Office for a meeting, and the First Lady entertains the spouse with a coffee reception.  In 30 minutes they’re out the door, and the White House swings into REAL preparation for the State Dinner that night.  For this, see my next post!