Originally Posted by
Stanwell
Two points, if I may..
"Prince Michael manages his own consultancy business .." (Wikipedia).
"He also spends time running his successful consultancy business. (PMK Official website).
(My bolds)
Secondly..
Boeing United Kingdom Limited and Boeing Defence UK Limited don't sound terribly like US companies to me.
As I understand it the Boeing sponsorship came from the US, but the UK team managed the
PR.
I can't comment on the Prince Michael consultancy because I don't know. He certainly doesn't have any link to Marshall or The Air League, and I don't believe there is a Boeing connection.
Originally Posted by
Cessnafly
Terry Holloway
Having had many dealings with the Royal Household over many years I can tell you that connections with members of the Royal family, in themselves,do not help. In particular, there are some very strict rules about involvement with what are seen as advertising, commercial activities and fundraising. Prince Michael will not have helped TCT directly one jot, and whist photographs such as this are impressive, I know they will not have influenced her sponsors Boeing (a US company) or Artemis (whom I know well through another Charity- The Haven). Both companies simply want publicity, and neither is interested in The Royal Family. In any event, this photo was taken after the sponsors had given the money.
What utter nonsense.
Whilst the sponsors may have already been in place at the juncture of this particular photo, the sponsors would have known that Prince Michael was on board.
She would have banged that drum in the same fashion as 'alone/solo'
The awards are all based upon her connections, with some having influence in those organisations.
You do sound like a decent chap but I don't think that you will be able to insult our intelligence here on this one.
Like it or not but what I said earlier is true in my experience of working very closely with the Royal Household.
Of course some people will be impressed by "Royal connections", but I do not believe that applies to either Artemis or Boeing.
I don't believe TCT had any contact or links to Prince Michael prior to the SA trip, by which time the two sponsors had been secured.
Originally Posted by
B Fraser
Mr Holloway Sir,
Welcome back. My good friend Mr Cough knows you and if he says you are a decent chap then that's good enough for me.
I can't quite accept that having a minor royal as a very close friend brings no advantages. Let's take for instance the photo below from TCT's own website. Unless Uber have branched out, I don't know of any other organisation that would have laid on a Lynx for TCT plus friend to whisk her from Battersea to Middle Wallop.
We can then examine the various awards that have been bestowed. When you dig slightly deeper, the same name keeps cropping up. Is it just coincidence or do all roads lead to Rome ? My line of work teaches me that there is no such thing as coincidence.
Can I ask you to find out who gave her the RAF wings and did that person tell her it was ok for her to wear them ? Does that person hold an honorary senior RAF rank ? Does that person by sheer coincidence, (and who would have believed it ?) also hold an honorary senior rank in the Royal Navy Reserve ? A definitive answer would be most welcome so we can stop the speculation.
It would have been the other way round! I assume the Army laid on a Lynx to take Prince Michael to Middle Wallop, and she accompanied him.
I can absolutely assure you that a Royal connection/ patron does not influence any awards in The Air League, and I am quite certain that applies equally in HCAP LAA, and RAeC.
I've not seen her "wearing" RAF wings but from a conversation with a chum I believe the Royal Navy gave her Navy wings, which go with her "Honorary" rank in the RN. There was a suggestion that an old (WW2) set of wings were given to her for good luck which may have been loosely pinned to the lapel of her flying suit as a talisman. Most people (including me!) will see nothing wrong with that, because it's not a pretense of something else.