Monday
Monday starts with a visit to Norton Rose, a London-based international law firm with a strong presence in the Middle East. They are looking to expand their business, particularly in the Middle East, a region that I regularly visit.
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I meet some of the lawyers and have lunch with them to talk about what they're doing and what they're planning for the future. A great part of my job - well, my life really - involves listening and there's never a day that goes past without me learning something new. |
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Of course all members of the Royal Family support and promote the United Kingdom, but I was asked to take a slightly more focused view of the commercial and business aspects. I've been doing so since October 2001.
After lunch, it's back to Buckingham Palace, where I have my office, to briefly catch up on my correspondence.
This afternoon I have a meeting with UK Radio Aid who won a Sony Radio Award earlier in the year which I was asked to present, but I was out of the country at the time. So I've invited them round to congratulate them on their fantastic achievement and discuss the potential for further future co-operation. |
Tuesday
Today is what we call an 'awayday' and I'm visiting Suffolk. The first visit of the day is to the International Boatbuilding Training College in Lowestoft. It's been there for 30 years but it's expanding. I'm given a briefng and a tour.
Next on the schedule is Lings Honda Centre. The company is very successful, so this is another aspect of my international trade life, recognising and supporting inward investment to the UK.
Then it's on to the marina in Lowestoft, where there's been a huge amount of investment in the leisure boating area as well as boat repair.
Afterwards I go on to the Royal Hospital School in Holbrook where I have lunch with the senior prefects and unveil a plaque to mark the school's new business centre.
I also meet the children from the primary school next door. They've just done an environmental project and they present me with a bucket full of all sorts of living things to put in my garden.
After the school visit is completed, I go to RAF Wattisham, where I meet up with some of my team for the flight to Baku. On the plane I start reading my briefing notes.
It's important to balance my briefs by doing my own research or "homework" in addition to the official government briefings I receive before a visit.
I make about nine or ten overseas trips every year, both to Europe and further afield. We usually do a recce about three months before a visit takes place, to ensure that the High Commissioner, Ambassador or Consul General - the diplomat on the spot - has the right level of support. Then, of course, there's the security aspect as well. The two go together, so we do a combined security and policy recce.
Wednesday
We always have a team breakfast when we are away. An army marches on its stomach and having a good breakfast sets you up for the rest of the day. There are two periods of time when we get together - breakfast and tea.
Breakfast is an opportunity to discuss the day's strategy, while tea is a time to unwind, but also to find out from London what's been happening during the day.
The main reason we've come to Baku is the opening of a 1,000-mile oil pipeline that runs from Azerbaijan through Georgia to the Turkish port of Ceyhan in the Mediterranean.
The relationship with Azerbaijan is very important to the UK because we support the country in its efforts to improve democratic institutions and to build a market economy. This is all part of helping Azerbaijan develop closer ties with Europe and bringing greater stability to the wider region.
In the morning I have a meeting with Lord Browne of British Petroleum, who are leading the pipeline project. It's an opportunity to find out his objectives for Azerbaijan, because we're both going to be talking to the same influential people.
I keep in regular contact with as many businesses as possible in the UK in order to ensure that I can support their efforts and objectives wherever I happen to be at the time.
Afterwards, I head off with Lord Browne to the opening of the Caspian Energy Centre, which is an education centre established to inform people about oil, this pipeline, the environmental issues and so on. They've rescued some local endangered tortoises from the area of the energy complex and are breeding them in a pen just beside the centre. Although endangered, they seem to be a particularly fast-moving species of tortoise!
From there we go on to the opening of the pipeline. There are a lot of speeches, including one from me on behalf of the UK, and then the interested parties - Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey (the countries through which the pipeline goes) and BP - each take it in turns to turn large valves symbolically opening the flow of oil into the pipeline.
In the evening there's a celebration dinner with the Azerbaijan president with some very good tri-national entertainment. There's some brilliant dancing, and fireworks afterwards. The president and his wife, who spend time in the UK, speak excellent English and we begin to build a relationship.
Thursday
Another short night, but the good breakfast sets me up for our first engagement this morning, a visit to the Amec Tekfen Azfen Topside construction yard. They've built a massive topside to an oil rig that they're going to put on a barge and take out into the Caspian sea.
Next we go to the British Council to see the work that they do to promote cultural ties between Britain and Azerbaijan and also their vital work in English language training. That's followed by a visit to the British Embassy to meet the staff and people who are involved in day-to-day commercial and diplomatic activities.
I think it's important to visit High Commissions, Embassies, Consulates and British Councils to recognise the very hard work that diplomats do on behalf of the UK, away from home.
Then it's a quick dash back to the airport to jump on the plane.
This evening I have a dinner with the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators. I'm their Grand Master, having taken over from my father two years ago in a ceremony in which he became Patron.
Friday
Today I fly to the Isle of Man. I've been asked to present the trophies at the King William's College founder's day on Saturday. This sort of thing is a kind of Royal hardy perennial.
I shall be staying with the Lieutenant Governor Air Marshal Ian Macfadyen and this evening I'm going to a reception and dinner for St Bridget's Hospice.
All things considered, it's been a fairly average week in my life, a mixture of the focused commercial activities I do on behalf of the United Kingdom and the Royal duties I perform on a normal day-by-day basis. I try to maintain a flexible programme, but with the need to look ahead up to two years I try to keep the fine detailed planning on a quarterly basis to ease the last minute requests.
Now, after four years in this role, we have the additional requirement of re-visiting key markets and businesses in order to continue the process of relationship building as this is one of the most important ways of successfully developing and promoting UK business, both nationally and internationally.
This article is taken from the October 2005 edition of British Airways' Business Life magazine.
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