(This is a series of posts from a class I taught at R.U.M.)
Your group is hosting an event and the autocrat receives a communication from Their Royal Majesties’ chamberlain informing you that TRMs will be attending your event. In some cases, you are prepared for this and everything is under control. In some cases, royalty has never been to an event that your group has hosted and you have no idea what to do. In most cases, you’re likely somewhere in between these two scenarios. First of all, don’t panic.
Note: In all cases where Their Royal Majesties are mentioned, you can assume this also means Their Royal Highnesses, and, in some topics, visiting royalty. Some baronies provide this level of support to their local Baron and Baroness as well.
There are many things here that you’ll see as so totally obvious as to wonder why they are even included. But, they are included because they are not so obvious to everyone.
Communications are Key!
If you want your interactions with planning to have royalty attending your event to proceed smoothly, you need clear and regular communications.
Royalty Liaison
If Royalty will attend your event, it is a very good idea to have a Royalty Liaison on your event staff. If you do not have a royalty liaison, please designate one. The autocrat has too much to do. If you have a Royal Peer in your group, they are a likely candidate for this role. Anyone from any of the Great Peerage Orders (Chivalry, Laurel, Pelican) are also good candidates as are current or former Great Officers of State. A former Baron or Baroness of your Barony will likely have interacted with Royalty in the past and will also make a good candidate for this role. Your current Baron and Baroness should assume their roles as Baron and Baroness, not bustling about on the day of the event making sure things are happening.
Your royalty liaison will need easy and regular access to email and phone.
Chamberlain
You can usually find contact information for TRM’s chamberlain on Their website. If you are trying to get royalty to attend your event and you want to give Them an invitation, you can send or give invitations to your event directly to TRMs but it will likely be Their chamberlain who works with your royalty liaison regarding every aspect of the royalty’s plans to be at your event. In most cases, TRM’s chamberlain will have a pre-built set of questions to ask you about accommodations for the event. The sooner these questions can be answered, the sooner TRMs can work on Their plans, including what to pack, what reservations to make, etc. If They don’t know what you have planned, it is harder for Them to make Their plans.