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Royal encounters at Hills Road

Royal encounters at Hills Road

As part of our 50th anniversary we're taking a look back at the years gone by. Ted Coney (Head of Art, 1971-2005) shares some very special memories...

Published on 17/02/2025

In 1998, Hills Road was awarded a Queen's Anniversary Prize in 1998 for its music and sport facilities: then again in 2002 for the work of Art Department. On both occasions, Ted Coney (Head of Art, 1971-2005) had the honour of joining the Hills contingent at Buckingham Palace. As we commemorate 50 years of Hills Road, here Ted shares some recollections of his brushes with royalty – including an encounter with Prince Phillip some years prior.

“In 1998, moments before we were presented to the Queen at Buckingham Palace to receive our Anniversary Prize, I dropped a canapé and scooped it up quickly.

A year later, I found it in my suit pocket – proof that the whole thing had not been a dream.

Ted with Elizabeth II at the Palace in 2002

Little did I know that I’d have the privilege of returning in 2002, when the Art Department was awarded the Anniversary Prize for our work in the community. We met Princess Anne, who kindly invited us to visit the Queen’s Gallery next door as her guests. The students were particularly impressed by this privilege, as we bypassed the queue and were announced as "The Princess Royal’s party."

We also saw Prince Philip on that occasion, and I was delighted to learn that he remembered his official visit to Hills Road in 1991. "Not that terrible place," he remarked. He may have been recalling the abundance of supplies in the Art department, at which he’d quipped: "And don't you ever throw anything away?!”

Hills Road Queen’s Anniversary honours

1998:

Winner of the 1998 Queen’s Anniversary Education & Training Prize for ‘Upgrading facilities and teaching in sports and music for use by the college and the region’

Comment from the Royal Anniversary Trust archive: “The College has achieved outstanding academic results since being removed from local authority control in 1983. Adopting a dynamic and visionary approach, and with the support of public and private-sector funds, the College now provides high-quality education in first-class accommodation for an expanded body of some 1500 full-time sixth formers and 1500 part-time adult students. It also provides an important local resource: serving as the base for two city orchestras; accommodating exhibition space for students and local professional artists; and with a national-level sports centre that attracts a wide cross-section of the general public including those with disabilities.”

2002:

Winner of the 2002 Queen’s Anniversary Arts & Creative Industries Prize for ‘Art and design: a community partnership’

Comment from the Royal Anniversary Trust archive: “Artists and architects in residence add much to a highly significant programme in which students improve artistic skills, contribute to the College and to the local community, and develop social awareness. The students undertake commissioned projects, including many murals and sculptures for health centres, primary schools, Cambridge railway station, and a modern shopping centre. Other commissions have involved projects for businesses such as Novartis, public agencies and national institutions. Students transform imaginative thinking into artistic reality and undertake excellent creative work within realistic commercial and other constraints.”