The Royal Waterman

WHEN Henry VIII wanted to travel between his riverside palaces, he’d make the trip up the River Thames in his royal barge.

 

Only the best oarsmen would be trusted with the job of rowing the monarch so in 1514 the King set up the Company of Watermen whose sole purpose was to transport him.

 

There are no state barges afloat today but the role still exists in ceremonial form and our Queen retains 24 royal watermen, making it one of the most ancient of royal appointments.

 

Henley boat hire boss Jonathan Hobbs can remember how nervous he felt when he was interviewed for the job at Buckingham Palace four years ago.

 

He says: “It was very daunting. I took the train to London and then walked through Green Park around Buckingham Palace to the privy purse door. I had dressed smartly in a suit and tie, no trainers, and once I had passed through security I sat anxiously in a waiting room with two or three other people.

 

“Then after what seemed like the longest walk ever down seemingly endless corridors, I was escorted into an impressive office and was face-to-face with high-ranking staff members, including Paul Ludwig, then the Queen’s barge master, who is responsible for the royal watermen.”

 

Jonnie told them how he had rowed as a pupil at the Oratory School in Woodcote and had competed at Henley Royal Regatta several times.

 

He was then asked about his service to the river and he explained his various voluntary roles, including being chairman of Visit Thames and the National Passenger Boat Association.

 

The interview was over within 15 minutes, which seemed worryingly short to Jonnie.

 

But a phone call in June 2018 telling him he’d got the job was, he says, “an amazing feeling and the visit to St James’s Palace for the

uniform fitting was one of my favourite parts”.

 

The waterman’s eye-catching uniform includes a skirted scarlet tunic with a silver gilt royal cypher on the back and front, breeches and scarlet stockings, topped and tailed with a peaked cap and black buckled shoes.

 

Jonnie, 50, says: “We were measured from head to toe and I noticed that the shoes came from John Lobbs of Jermyn Street and weren’t cheap at £350 but the tailors, clearly with one eye on the budget, were quick to see if a former outfit might fit the new waterman or could be adjusted to do so.

 

“Once I was suited and booted, I realised that it was then to be kept in a cupboard at St James’s Palace. It has your name on it and when you are asked to be part of a ceremonial occasion, you have to collect it yourself from that cupboard.”

 

Jonnie received a warrant of appointment, which includes a wax seal, and is paid the princely sum of £7.40 a year.

 

But the biggest honour for him is to be following in his father Tony’s footsteps.

 

There is a portrait of Tony in his waterman’s uniform hanging in Henley’s River & Rowing Museum, painted in 1985 by local artist Bill Mundy and gifted to the museum in 2000.

 

Jonnie says he was aware what a big deal such an appointment was when he was stopped in the street as a young boy and congratulated on his father’s achievement.

 

“I knew from an early age that it was something special,” he says. “It happened for my father around the time of many royal weddings and everyone seemed genuinely pleased that he had been made a royal waterman.”

 

On-shore duties for watermen today include acting as boxmen on royal carriages during state visits, royal weddings and jubilees and walking behind the barge master at coronations.

 

At the state opening of Parliament, the barge master and royal watermen travel on the carriages guarding the regalia when it is transported between Buckingham Palace and Westminster as a reminder of the days when it was brought by boat from the Tower of London.

 

Tony transported the Queen twice along the Thames – firstly for the opening of the new Henley Royal Regatta headquarters in 1986 and then in 1998 when she opened the River & Rowing Museum, collecting her from Phyllis Court Club in Windrush, the vessel of the Environment Agency’s chief navigation officer.

 

Jonnie and wife Suzy have been to Buckingham Palace for a garden party but have yet to formally meet the Queen.

 

However, he was on duty when Princess Anne visited Bisham Abbey to launch a regatta for disabled children in June 2017.

 

She knows her stuff and was very charming,” he says.