"I was fortunate to meet Her Majesty the Queen and Prince Philip in August 1994, in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories (I was 14 at the time). I had my parents bring me to the airport to watch the royal plane land and many others from the community gathered to await the Queen, as well.
"I had purchased a bouquet of flowers for the Queen and as she did a walkabout on the tarmac, the Queen walked past where I was standing, but Prince Philip walked up to me and asked if I'd like to present my flowers to the Queen.
"I could not understand what he was asking because I understood formality not to approach the Queen. My mother, standing next to me and nudging me, said I'd love to.
"As I agreed, Prince Philip told me, 'Well, climb under [the barricade].' He put his hand over my head as I bent underneath the barricade and he escorted me to the Queen.
"He engaged in small talk with me, asking me where I was from, to which I said Yellowknife. He probed further, asking, 'Whereabouts in Yellowknife?' I was so nervous that I gave him short and blunt answers (after all, he wouldn't know where 47th Street was), so I told him I lived, 'Oh, just down the street.' We were on the Yellowknife Airport tarmac.
"He smiled during the entire encounter and he attempted so much to be engaging to a shy and nervous teenager.
"When I arrived to the Queen with Prince Philip by my side, she had a smile and look of 'Where did you come from?' I presented the Queen with my flowers and said to her, 'It's an honour to meet you, Your Majesty.' Then I turned and went back to the crowd. Security had calmed down and then the CBC interviewed me as the girl that Prince Philip took from the crowd.
"At the time of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012, I wrote a letter to Prince Philip and thanked him for a moment in my life that is frozen in time and to which, I am so grateful. He was such a lovely gentleman."
- Natasha Penney, Fort Liard, N.W.T.
Photo: © Natasha Penney