SANTA MEETS THE QUEEN STORY.

It was about three years ago that I received some very exciting and important news!  We were all sitting by the fire after a very busy Christmas, telling each other stories of our latest adventures of the last Christmas Eve when mysteriously, a letter suddenly dropped through my letter box.  Now you know I get millions of letters from children every year, but this I thought, was a little TOO early for next Christmas!! 

 Eric, the chief elf brought it to me, and informed me that the postmark indicated that the letter had been sent all the way from the United Kingdom.  As I took the letter from him, I noticed that the envelope had been sealed, and on the seal were the initials ER!  “My goodness” I exclaimed with surprise, “this letter has been sent by the Queen of England!”  I looked at the postmark again and noticed the letters HRH!  For those of you who do not know what HRH stands for, then I will tell you!  HRH means HER ROYAL HIGHNESS, by which the Queen is also known!

 I cannot begin to tell you how excited I was to receive such an important letter, so much so that I dropped the envelope three times before I eventually opened the seal and took out the letter inside.  “Why has the Queen sent a letter to you Santa?” cried one of the elves!  “Please read it out to us!” pleaded another.  So. without delay I read it out aloud to my very attentive audience!

 “Dear Santa,

 In my message to the Commonwealth, which was televised on Christmas Day, my husband and I included you and your elves in our New Year Honours list.  Santa, you are to receive a Knighthood, and will henceforth be known as Sir Santa.  The elves will be awarded the OBE, that is THE ORDER OF THE BRITISH ELVES!  This is in recognition for all the good work that you have done for so many years for the children of the world!

 ELIZABETH”

 “Hooray, we are all going to London!” we sang as we danced around the room! What an honour, this was so exciting!  Suddenly, I realised that we had such little time, so I ordered the elves to prepare the sleigh immediately as we had to be in London by New Years Day, dressed in our top hat and tails.  This time, we would take no chances, we would take Rudolph with us as we could not afford to loose our way and end up on the moon again!

 Dressed in our finest, we set off for London on New Years Eve, and as we flew over many countries, we could see lots of fireworks from the many celebratons and parties!  We reached the skies over London just in time to hear Big Ben strike 12 midnight, signalling the New Year!  Hearing the cries of “Happy New Year!” from the people down below in Trafalgar Square, we waved to the revellers who were dancing in the fountain before landing in the gardens at Buckingham Palace.

 “Happy New Year sir” said the Queen’s Butler as he came out to greet us.  “The Queen is expecting you”, he informed us as he took us to a beautiful room inside the Palace.  “If you need anything, just ring the bell.”

 After a good nights rest, we were summoned to the Palace at 3 o’clock in the afternoon to meet the Queen.  Looking very regal in her crown and robes, the Queen beckoned for me to come forward.  As I reached Her Majesty I knealt before her, only to find one of her corgi dogs had entered the room, and was sniffing the fur on my coat!  Soon I was surrounded by more dogs when, all of a sudden, one of the dogs lifted it’s leg and…………..shook my hand, and thanked me for bringing them their presents!  After all that excitement, the Queen lifted a sword, placed it on both of my shoulders and exclaimed “ARISE SIR SANTA CLAUS”  to which the elves clapped and cheered before going up one by one to receive their own medals.

 After the ceremony, we were invited to a wonderful Garden Party in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, where we had tea and cucumber sandwiches with the Queen and Prince Philip before flying back to the North Pole, tired but very happy!

 To this day, I still prefer to be called just plain Santa, but I must admit, at times, the title SIR does help to get a good seat in a restaurant!

 .Drawing Suggestion Santa kneeling with Korgis.

 WRITTEN BY DEREK BUCKHAM/VAL BUCKHAM/PETE BARCLAY/JIM GREENLEAF.