Jim Markson stood in a line waiting his turn to go forward to the place where he would suddenly become 'Sir James'. He and his family had arrived just after ten that morning and had been directed to an ornately decorated and large ante-room along with the other people who were being honoured that day. Some refreshments were served by quaintly dressed footmen carrying silver trays with glasses of hot punch, it was a nice touch as the weather outside was damp and chilled. At fifteen minutes to eleven the accompanying families, Carol, Jo and Peter, had been directed to find their seats in the 'throne-room', as Jim thought of it. The time that following was taken up by Royal Enquires organising the waiting recipients into a line in the correct order. Then each had been instructed on how to act and what they could not or could say, and not to speak until spoken to.
The prospective 'Lords' went first, there were just four of them, then came the new Knights, of which Jim was one. The line moved slowly forward toward the double doors. At last Jim could see into the throne-room, and now there were just three people in front of him, then two and then one. As it sank in, the nerves started and he felt slight tremors hit his knees, and his first step forward nearly threw him off balance. Jim recovered quickly and continued to his walk to the dais. The King stood two steps above him but stepped down as Jim reached the dais.
“Jim Markson,” the King said as he held out his hand for Jim to shake, “We are so grateful for your actions to save our friend the Archbishop, you have the gratitude of my entire family sir.”
“It was just an instinctive action your Majesty,” answered Jim.
“Nevertheless it was an act of selfless courage,” the King continued, “But I am also a great follower of your work and I follow, as closely as duties permit, the discoveries you and your family have made, you have performed a great service to humanity.”
“I am not sure if that is a positive or a negative, Sir, with recent events,” commented Jim.
“I am sure that God chose the right people for the job, we all feel honoured to have you and your family in our midst,” assured His Majesty, “I would dearly love to meet your family later, if that would be permissible, but now, we really must press on.”
The King stepped back onto the dais and retrieved the ceremonial sword from a nearby table. The King rested the sword on Jim's right shoulder and said, “For services to the British crown in the saving of Archbishop Benn and for services to mankind, you are dubbed a Knight of British Empire.” The sword was lifted from Jim's shoulder and then touched his left shoulder and then withdrawn. “Arise Sir James Markson.” Jim stood, bowed to His Majesty and walked on to take his seat to the right of the dais.
It seemed as if the parade of those receiving honours would never end, and Jim found himself loosing himself in his thoughts, one of which was, how thankful he was that Knights no longer needed to wear the long gowns and silly hats that they had been forced to wear no so many years ago. As he imagined himself in that 'get-up' he was having a little chuckle to himself when the investiture ended and everyone was invited to move to yet another room to 'partake' in some light refreshments. The doors at the other end of the wall in which they had entered, opened. The room was a long gallery with a equally long table, stretching most the gallery's fifty meter length. The table was filled with plates of food and drink, and Jim saw his son's eyes open wide at the sight of the food.
The Markson family mingled for over half an hour, answering questions and telling the story of how this or that had been discovered, Jim had just secured a second glass of cordial when he felt a tap on the shoulder. Jim turned to find himself face to face with the British King, “Your Majesty,“ exclaimed Jim.
“Just a plain 'sir' will suffice, Sir James,” laughed the King, and again shook Jim's hand. “And this must be the famous Joanne who started the whole thing,” the King said as he held out his hand to Jo. “What did you think when you discovered the treasure hoard in Cyprus, “ the King asked of Jo.
After being introduced to Carol and Peter, the King spent about twenty minutes chatting and asking questions before he excused himself and left the reception. The Marksons were amazed at the length of time His Majesty had spent with them, only Peter was unimpressed by the attention. Jim put that down to him being diverted from the wealth of food available.