THE DAY I MET THE PRINCESS

But I actually did meet a Princess when I was with the circus.

It was during a season's tour of the Channel Islands between Britain and France. We were with Winships Circus, a British circus family, and spent a few months on Guernsey before finishing the season on Jersey.

I cannot imagine many more magical places to tour than those small islands.

Surrounded by jewel-like beaches, and steeped in quaint history, they were marvellous places to explore during leisure hours.

I would take one of the circus ponies and practically circumnavigate the island in a day.

Once I was required to hand out circus flyers on one of these jaunts. I confess publicly now that I rode down to the beach, stuffed all the flyers in a handy carrier bag someone had left on the beach and spent the rest of the day exploring.

On both islands, the big top was pitched on ground overlooking the beach. As soon as the show was over, we changed our spangles for swimming costumes and headed for the surf.

I have often told you the circus life is a hard one. So it is. But not in the Channel Isles. It was like a ten month holiday, with breaks for performance.

Oh yes, the Princess. That was the year Princess Margaret of Britain paid a visit to the Channel Isles. We got word that she intended to visit the circus.

The circus boss immediately decided that someone on the show should present a bouquet to her, and since I was the youngest member of the troupe, hurried over to my father's caravan.

They called me. I came out of the horse tent covered in straw and manure, smelling strongly of sweaty horses, and dressed in jeans and a tshirt that had seen better days.

"Does she own a dress?" the boss asked faintly.

My mother, who adored the Royal Family, promptly stuck me in abath and spent the rest of the day trying to make me look like the pretty little girl the boss had in mind.

She somehow succeeded and I met the Princess at the entrance, curtsied and presented her with the bouquet.

The Princess was very sweet and charming. She complimented me on the dress which my mother had never allowed me to wear before in case I covered it with horse manure.

Later, one of the clowns was heard to comment, "Who was that little girl? Lucky they didn't use Gail or she'd have given the Princess a bunch of horseshoes."

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