Queen thanked after dad sees birth
01 Jul 10
A journalist has thanked the Queen for getting his father home just in time for his birth 37 years ago.
The Queen gave Paul Harrison's father John permission to fly home to England on her royal plane at the end of her 1973 tour of Canada as he could not get hold of a plane ticket back home.
Thanks to the monarch, Mr Harrison, a national newspaper reporter at the time, reached the bedside of his wife just 12 hours before his son was born.
His son Paul, who celebrates his 37th birthday next week, said his family always joked how he was born by "royal appointment".
The journalist got his chance to speak to the Queen when he followed in his father's footsteps and joined the media party covering the sovereign's nine-day tour of Canada.
During a garden party in the capital Ottawa the monarch giggled and smiled when Paul, a news correspondent with Sky, thanked her and she replied: "It was very fortunate really - I'm glad we were able to have been of help."
Speaking after the encounter Paul said: "This was very humbling and it was lovely. It's been 37 years coming, to say thank you directly to the Queen and thank her from my mother for allowing my father to come back."
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