Even then, I was quite surprised when cliff brought out his iPad, showed me these pictures and started talking about him.
It seems from Wikipedia that, after his coronation in May 1950, King Bhumibol and his consort returned to finish their studies in Europe. So it must have been during the year end break in December 1950 that the young Royals visited Singapore on their yacht.
At this time Cliff was a policeman working for the Singapore Harbour Board and had been assigned duty on Godowns one to five. With today's fancy marinas yet to be built, this was exactly where the King decided to berth his yacht.
Cliff was one of the officers assigned to protect the Royal Yacht. This task meant that he was required to go onboard and down into the hold to guard the royal jewels. The young King wandered out and spent quite a while chatting with Cliff. On leaving, the King told Cliff "Don't worry about the jewels, just make yourself coffee machine whenever you want one."
It seems that the royal couple made quite an impression on Cliff who was only a couple of years older than the King. As for Her Majesty - his main recollection: "lovely"!
