A former council leader said his first encounter with Queen Elizabeth II involved a rather awkward trip in an elevator. The former leader of the now abolished South Glamorgan County Council, Councillor Russell Goodway, opened up on how he ended up in a panic after getting in the wrong lift in County Hall with the late Queen when she visited Cardiff in October 1993.
Cllr Goodway shared the amusing story of his first encounter with The Queen during a special council meeting at City Hall on Tuesday, where members paid tribute to the former monarch. "The truth is that my association with The Queen did not get off to the best of starts," said the current Cardiff Council ward member for Ely.
On her visit to Cardiff that year, The Queen inaugurated Queen's Gate in Butetown, being the first non-construction worker to travel through the Butetown tunnels. She then went to County Hall. Cllr Goodway recalled how nervous he was as he awaited her arrival at County Hall, which was not helped, he said, by being given a "very detailed" 59-page itinerary.
