HWB 22/13
Mr. MacInnes
I have added to Mr. Hall's revised draft, which
I now send forward. I have included in the revised
draft a reference to the talk I had with Sir David
Trench in Hong Kong just before my return last
December, at which I explained to him that the view
of the Foreign Office and ourselves at that time
was still that a visit by The Queen to Hong Kong
would be inadvisable the main reason being that
it would have to be announced and planned so many
months in advance, and that once the announcement
had been made it would be a tremendous hostage to
fortune vis-a-vis the Chinese. As my conversation
with Sir David took place at the height of the Macad
troubles, I think he fully accepted the views I put
to him, and I do not think he will expect any other decision than the one conveyed in this letter. Indeed,
it was as a result of my talk with him that he
subsequently put to us the alternative suggestion
that Prince Charles might to go Hong Kong to open the Plover Cove scheme instead this suggestion was
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put in a long letter covering a number of other
matters, and the relevant extract is enclosed in our
letter to the Foreign Office at No. 7 on this file.
2. There is no indication in the minutes at No. 13
that the Committee considered the possibility of a
visit by Prince Charles. I feel that we should
pursue this possibility; and if we may have the
papers back after action on the attached draft we
will see if the Foreign Office are yet ready with their views.
ANS.
(A.N. Galsworthy) 25th April, 1967.
Sir A. Galsworthy
Curiously enough there seems to be no record
in the minutes of the committee meeting about the
discussion on Hong Kong at all. In fact I did
raise the possibility of a visit by Prince Charles
at the meeting and Sir Michael Adeane said firmly
that there was no question of his undertaking
/duties