July 1992

Well, my friend at Liberalia has spurred me to get back into the game. But, first, a true story...

During the summer of 1992, between my second and third undergraduate years, I was a member of the Governor General's Foot Guards. Being a Guardsman involved completing reserve infantry training in the Canadian Forces and also performing in the Changing of the Guard ceremony on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. (The ceremony, with the famous bearskin hats, rifles and red tunics, is performed at 10:00 a.m. every day during July and August, which is the tourist high season in Ottawa.) There were some Guardsmen who were members of the unit throughout the school year, but I was one of the many who were there only for the summer. There was another regiment (the Grenadier Guards from Montreal) which also did the ceremony, so the regiments alternated between infantry training and ceremonial duties throughout the summer. During the five days of ceremonial duties, each Guardsman would typically do four days on Parliament Hill and one day at the Governor General's residence at Rideau Hall. During that time, the other regiment would either be in infantry training or on leave.

At Rideau Hall, there are two Guardsmen on duty at the end of the long driveway near Sussex Drive (the "gate") and two immediately outside the Hall (the "house"). Each shift runs for an hour. The Guardsmen not on duty at any particular time spend their free time in a house on the grounds. The same Guardsman pairs are employed throughout the summer for Rideau Hall duties. One of the pair is the senior and the other is the junior. That system allows everyone to train with the same person all summer and to become comfortable with the other person's habits. The senior Guardsman is the one responsible for calling out the signals for salutes and synchronized short marches while on duty.

To be honest, I was not one of the highest ranking Guardsmen, and so when Queen Elizabeth visited for Canada Day activities, I was left out of a special parade. That meant I was given Rideau Hall duties on July 1 along with the other Guardsmen who weren't selected for the parade. The guy I was usually paired up with was selected, so for one day I was with a new guy at Rideau Hall. As it turned out, he was my bunk mate -- a nice French-Canadian guy who always had amazingly shiny drill boots. I was selected as the senior.

Now, as the Queen was in residence at Rideau Hall during that time, I was a little more nervous than usual. The rule is that if a general officer or the Queen is in the immediate area, the Guardsmen on duty perform a "royal" or "general" salute with their rifles. Because the Guardsmen on duty are not permitted to turn their heads, it's not always easy to see who's walking around, and so there are NCO's making sure that the Guardsmen do the right thing. Despite that, I had a terrible fear that I would miss the Queen's entrance, fail to call out a royal salute, suffer a dismissal from the regiment and find my way into the newspapers in perpetuity. So I was vigilant, to say the least. During our hour at the house, I noticed a car driving up towards us with its lights flashing. No one came up to say anything, so I didn't know who these visitors were. All the same, I got more worried by the second about the possibility of missing the Queen going by. It's a really long driveway, and I recall that you could see for about a hundred yards or so towards Sussex Drive. And, of course, the car was not moving quickly. There was therefore a long period of time -- maybe thirty seconds -- during which the humiliating possibilities came to mind. The car came to a stop immediately outside the door, about fifteen feet or so from me. I took the plunge and, with three sharp taps of my rifle butt on the ground, called out a royal salute. My partner had no say in the manner, so he and I went into the familiar drill. The maneuver ends with both Guardsmen holding their rifles vertically and looking in towards the middle. While in this position, I could see several people exit the vehicle and walk the short distance to the front door of Rideau Hall. It wasn't the Queen who entered. No, it was someone else entirely. For about two seconds, I made eye contact with...

Conrad Black.