Latest news with #ChristopherBate
Times
19-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Queen Camilla made vice-admiral of navy on birthday visit
What do you get the woman who has it all? A new title and a personalised clingfilm dispenser. At least, that's what the Queen received when she visited Plymouth on the eve of her 78th birthday. A new picture has been released to mark the occasion, showing her at ease in the garden of Ray Mill, her private Wiltshire home. The Queen has been made vice-admiral of the Royal Navy, the first woman to hold the position in the UK, reflecting the 'high regard' she commands among sailors. She also received an engraved clingfilm holder as part of an 'inside joke' from the HMS Astute crew, which she appeared to be thrilled with, for her 78th birthday on Thursday. The joke relates to an incident that occurred on the nuclear-powered submarine. As lady sponsor of HMS Astute, the Queen had been made aware that the submarine's crew had once used the transparent plastic film to fix a problem with the engines on board. • Queen Camilla resists adopting a dog from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home She was said to have found the solution 'quite amusing' and upon seeing her specially engraved gift, exclaimed: 'Oh my goodness the famous clingfilm! Oh brilliant, it's a useful substance … I'm sure it works. How lovely, thank you very much.' Commander Christopher Bate, captain of HMS Astute, explained after her departure that the substance had saved the day for the submarine. 'We had a defect on board and we were losing vacuum in the main engines,' he said. 'The engineers on board said we could either come back to port to fix it or use something on board. So they used clingfilm from the galley.' He added: '[They] wrapped it in the engines and stopped air getting into it and reducing the vacuum, and therefore re-sorted propulsion at sea. And it's been on there for the last two and a half years, because it's such a big job to change the seals … Her Majesty found it quite amusing when she found out.' • Queen thanks Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon and discusses Montenegro holiday The gift came with a gold plaque that read: 'Clingfilm, keeping nuclear submarines at sea,' and 'First in class, second to none'. Bate said Camilla was 'very pleased'. During a downpour at the garden party to mark the end of the submarine's first commission, she said: 'Within this ship's company, those extraordinary endeavours range from the innovation of one petty officer … through to the resourceful solution to maintain a vacuum, in the middle of the Indian ocean, with clingfilm! 'I can only imagine what the unofficial toolkit in a submarine might look like.' However her gift may have to stay at Raymill, rather than at Clarence House — the London residence she shares with the King — as he is said not to like clingfilm. Tom Bower, the biographer, claimed the first time the King saw clingfilm he 'shrieked' and asked what it was. 'It's clingfilm, darling,' she replied, according to reports. The Queen spent the day in Plymouth touring HMS Astute and meeting submariners. She named the vessel in 2007, when she was Duchess of Cornwall, and said she was looking forward to its return after an upcoming four-year refit. But with 'global tectonics shifting unpredictably', she warned the submarine may return to an 'unfamiliar world'. • Queen reveals sadness at library closures as Holyrood Week begins HMS Astute conducts a range of missions including homeland protection and intelligence gathering. It will now enter a mid-life revalidation programme, including a refit which will finally see the emergency clingfilm removed. Discussing the Queen's involvement as lady sponsor, and now vice admiral, Bate said Camilla had been 'a really good supporter since day one'. 'For the last 15 years, she writes to the boat regularly,' he added, even sending tea and biscuits out to the crew when they had freezer failures. 'We lost a member of the ship's company two and a half years ago, which was quite difficult. 'She was very supportive, writing to the submarine [crew] and to his parents.'
Telegraph
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Queen's 78th birthday cling film gift from submariners
The Queen has been given an engraved cling film holder as a birthday present on a visit to Devonport naval base, marking an inside joke between her and the crew of the nuclear sub HMS Astute. Queen Camilla visited the base in Plymouth on Wednesday, the eve of her 78th birthday, and the crew came up with the novel gift idea to carry on a joke she first shared with them two years ago. Her Majesty, the Lady Sponsor of the submarine since 2007, had been amused then to learn that cling film had been used to keep the £1.65bn Astute afloat in an emergency incident. On Wednesday, she exclaimed: 'Oh my goodness, the famous cling film!' when she was given the present by Cdr Christopher Bate, the commanding officer of HMS Astute. In her role as Lady Sponsor of the sub, Camilla has been kept informed of operational debriefs and deployments as well as the occasional malfunction on board. She was said to have learnt of the deployment of cling film from her staff. Cdr Bates explained: 'We had a defect on board and we were losing vacuum in the main engines. The engineers said we could either come back to port to fix it or use something on board. So they used cling film from the galley. '[They] wrapped it in the engines and stopped air getting into it and reducing the vacuum, and therefore restored propulsion at sea. 'And it's been on there for the last two and a half years, because it's such a big job to change the seals … Her Majesty found it quite amusing when she found out.' The Queen, who also mentioned the incident in her speech to the ship's company at a garden party on Wednesday, laughed when she was presented with the dispenser: 'Oh brilliant. How lovely, thank you very much.' She said in her speech: 'Within this ship's company, those extraordinary endeavours range from the innovation of one petty officer…through to the resourceful solution to maintain a vacuum, in the middle of the Indian Ocean, with cling film! 'I can only imagine what the unofficial toolkit in a submarine might look like.' Cdr Bate said he hoped the dispenser, bearing a gold plaque that states 'Clingfilm, keeping Nuclear Submarines at Sea,' would act as a 'talking piece in her house'. 'She was very pleased,' he added. The Queen, who was appointed as the first female Vice Admiral of the UK on Wednesday morning during her visit to the naval base, spent part of the day in Plymouth touring HMS Astute and meeting submariners. She also visited the Children's Hospice South West in Barnstaple, of which she is patron, to celebrate its 30th anniversary. It emerged that another defect she had been made aware of as Lady Sponsor of HMS Astute was less severe, but she had acted nonetheless. Following a freezer malfunction on board, she sent the crew tea and biscuits to tide them over after their frozen food went bad. Speaking about her involvement with the submarine, Cdr Bate said she had been 'a really good supporter since day one' and wrote to the boat regularly. 'We lost a member of the ship's company two a half years ago, which was quite difficult, and she was very supportive – writing to the submarine and to his parents,' he said. 'She's been a great supporter throughout and is genuinely interested about what we get up to at sea.' Regular letters and Christmas cards Chief Petty Officer Paddy Ashdown, who has been on HMS Astute since its inception and met the Queen during Wednesday's visit, said: 'She keeps sending letters and Christmas cards out to the boat.' Michael Pearson, a tactical submariner, added: 'She always writes to us wishing us good luck for our coming deployments. 'It's really nice having someone that high up in the royal family as our Lady Sponsor.' The submarine was named by Her Majesty, then Duchess of Cornwall, in 2007 and is the lead sub in the Royal Navy's fleet of Ship Submerged Nuclear (SSN) or 'attack' submarines. The price tag for the fleet of seven nuclear-powered Astute-class attack subs has soared by £1bn over the past year and has taken the entire programme costs to more than £12bn. Wednesday's garden party for the crew marked the end of the Astute's first commission. Cdr Bate explained that the submarine is now entering a Mid Life Revalidation Programme, which will include a refit – presumably ridding its engines of cling film – before beginning a second commission. 'She's into her mid-life refit now, so probably for the next five years, she'll be in Devonport, and she should come out pretty much brand new,' he said.
