This week, we travel back to the island of Borneo, to the tiny Kingdom of Brunei… for a Royal short story…

The Empire Hotel is like a small city, opulent, luxurious, and designed around “clean” entertainment… bars, and even a night club can be found in the hotel, but there is not a drop of alcohol sold anywhere in Brunei… Western visitors are thus quite rare, except for business reason, or stopping by on their way to or back from another South East Asian destination.

In 2013, the country was host to ASEAN summits, and we were kept quite busy that year, with all kinds of events taking place, in and out of the property…

On the 22nd of January 2013, Queen Beatrix, then Queen of Netherlands, her son Willem Alexander, the soon to be King, and his wife Máxima Zorreguieta, visited Brunei, for a three day State visit. This was to be the Queen’s last official visit, and of course this made headlines in the local press :

http://www.bt.com.bn/2013/01/22/queen-beatrix-netherlands-visits-brunei

The Royal family was hosted in the hotel’s most prestigious suites, on the 7th floor, which has a private entrance, with direct access from the main entrance…

The program for the day involved a State dinner, and a cultural show at the hotel’s theater (yes, there even was a beautiful 300 seat theater, with a sound system to die for!!),  with the Bruneian members of the Royal family…

 

 

 

As on many occasions with official and high profiles visits, the General Manager and I were usually both welcoming and greeting our special guests, which required a certain degree of patience, as one could not always predict the exact times of arrival and departure of the guests…

The scorching Borneo heat, and high degree of humidity, did not help either, and being in suit and tie all day 🙂

Heads of State and other high ranking guests on official visits, were usually transported in classic style : a vintage Rolls Royce, imposing, robust and sturdy, custom built for the Sultan of Brunei…

At least one Phantom was built  for the Sultan of Brunei, in 1995, was named Rolls-Royce Phantom V. Three other Phantoms were built between 1995 and 1997, also for the Sultan, named Rolls Royce Cloudesque, and sometimes referred to as Rolls-Royce Phantom VII.

After about an hour waiting for the Dutch Royal family, I could detect some signs of excitement, and gathered that they would be coming down soon… the two drivers must have felt it too, as they started getting into motion!

One of them got in the driver’s seat, and proceeded to start the engine… as he was turning the key in the ignition, nothing happened! I thought, at that exact moment, that this vehicle must have weighted at least 2 tons, and that it would require an army of people to push start it, if needed  … moreover, it was parked uphill! Suddenly, it seems warmer than ever in Brunei!

A slight feeling of panic starting creeping in, similar to what I had felt during my very long lift ride with Malaysian Prime Minister….. The longest minute…

… in the meantime, the two drivers starting moving about the Rolls, seeming very calm, and not worried at all!

One of them opened the huge boot of the car, whilst the second one stuck his head inside… he lifted a piece of carpet in the right corner, a few electric cables appeared and he started to fiddle around with them.

The second one went back to the driver’s seat and the liberating sound of the huge electric starter was heard, the beast coughed a black cloud of smoke, and the V8 engine soon was purring like a satisfied old cat…