Olly's Story

SSAFA volunteer Olly Knight recalls the fateful day in 1952 that he saw the then Princess Elizabeth and Duke of Edinburgh in an open-top Humber during a royal visit to Kenya.

The day after 13-year-old Olly had watched the Royal couple drive past, the world was shocked to learn of the of death of King George VI. For Olly it was only years later that he realised that fleeting glimpse of the Princess and Duke was only one day before they became Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.

“I was within 100 miles of her when she became Queen - and within 100 miles of Balmoral when she left us. Of course we are all saddened by her death - we knew it would happen but it is a shock and a 'hole' has appeared in all our lives - it will take time to fill.”

Background

“I was born in Papua New Guinea. It's an island off the North of Australia, and shortly afterwards my father joined the Australian Air Force and went off to Europe. My mother and I sailed across the Indian Ocean to Durban and then up to Mombasa to go and live with my paternal grandparents in the north west of Kenya. A place called Kitale. Lovely place with a fabulous view of Mt Elgon.

“We lived with them throughout the war until my father was demobilised in late 1945 or early 1946, and then, I grew up in Kenya. I'd never been to the UK before, and I did all my schooling in Nakuru first of all, and then just outside Nairobi.”

“It was called the Duke of York School, named after the King in 1949, which is about the same time as the battleship the HMS Duke of York was scrapped. So, we had the school bell from that ship and it hangs there to this very day.”

“It was a boarding school for the East African territories which gathered boys from all over. Those in Nairobi could be day pupils but we were mostly boarders. We had to be. It took me about two and a half days to get home because I lived latterly right up in the west of Uganda.”

As part of his education at the Duke of York School, Olly and other boys had the opportunity to join the Army cadet force.

“We all started off as Army cadets and then later on we could divide up into Navy, Army and Air Force, and I went across to be an Air Force cadet, and then, subsequently joined the Air Force from school.”

Meeting the Queen

“When I was at the senior school, The Duke of York, it was on that occasion, that we met with, then, Princess Elizabeth.”

“As part of the Cadet Force we did a lot of drilling, so we were smart and sharp enough to participate in the royal visit because all the children in the Nairobi area were invited. So, we did a lot of drilling then we were shipped off down to Government House on the school bus.”

“There were people from other schools with parents there. The general tone of it was a very happy, a brilliantly sunny day in which we all had a fleeting glimpse of the royal couple as they went past, and we were able to see them and to admire them.”

“It was really a drive through with Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip in an open topped Humber and we were immensely impressed. It was magic because we had no idea about royalty or anything like that. I was only thirteen at the time, so, obviously not come across too many royals. So, it left a huge impression on all of us and we thoroughly enjoyed the outing.”

“The royal couple went off to Mount Kenya. I think to Sagana Lodge, and then, subsequently to a place called Treetops. You could live in this tree and watch the animals come down to drink at the waterhole at night. They were there over that night when The King sadly died and as we know Prince Philip broke the news to The Queen the following morning, and it must have been a very sad time for them.”

“For us, we were mustered on what was known at school as, The Brooklands. It was a great big race track type thing within which the school classroom area would be built.  Dormitory blocks lay outside the ‘race track’. The headmaster, Mr James, called us all to attention and then he stated, 'The King is dead. Long live the Queen,' and we were pretty profoundly shocked. We had no idea really what this meant.”

After bearing witness to those historic days, Olly went on to serve Queen and Country as a member of the Royal Air Force, dedicating 36 years of his life to military service. After leaving the RAF, Olly worked for 10 years as a civil servant, then after moving to Scotland he volunteered to become a SSAFA caseworker in 2004.

“I think The Queen has been an absolutely magic figure in my life and has been a fantastic example to everyone of us right throughout her entire reign.

“The Queen is extremely important to our work at SSAFA. On my wall I have the letter that she wrote to the Controller at the time about two or three years ago now which we all got a copy of, and I'm so proud to have that. To know that she appreciates what we do for the ex-service community over all these 140 years.”

After supporting 35 beneficiary cases as a SSAFA Caseworker in Moray, Olly now volunteers as a SSAFA IT co-ordinator for the Moray, Nairn and Banffshire branch, now known as SSAFA Grampian.