Wamsi, Royalty, and a special bag of Mangoes
By Matthew Vari
Sunday, July 12, 2015 (Sunday Weekly Magazine, PNG)
WAMSI Ilau is a household name in
PNG when it comes to music. The veteran singer has been churning out tunes for
the last 36 years. However, 24 of those years have been spent keeping a
particular story in his life a secret. Mind you, it is not something bad, but
is something rather amazing for this local musician who dropped by the office
share with the Sunday Chronicle Weekly Magazine team.
With the Pacific Games already
officially opened by Britain’s Prince Andrew the Duke of York last night. For
Wamsi, the occasion spells a moment of deja-vu for him, who had a rather once
in life-time experience when the prince opened the last games to be held in the
country.
Recent pictures surfaced on social
networks about visiting soccer teams and the official luggage transportation
resembling a bottle collection vehicle beeping through the streets of Pom on an
average weekday in the suburbs. The images reminded him of the true contrast to
the notion of the term of “the land of the unexpected”, which was what happened
24 years ago.
This story however revolves around an odd request for a 10kg bag of carrot mangoes that eventually made its way to Buckingham Palace. Believe it not, Mr Ilau recalled receiving a call in September of 1991, prior to the opening ceremony of the 1991 SP Games, and the arrival of Prince Andrew, from elder brother and former Commander of the PNGDF, Commodore Peter Ilau (then a major and now Ambassador to Indonesia), who was the equerry (an officer of honour) to the prince when he last visited.
“He called me back then when I was working near the airport area for Douglass Properties, and Peter made a call from Travel Lodge (now Crown Plaza) and asked me to go and find mangoes.”
“I asked him. What kind of mangoes? Because in Moresby we have all sorts of mangoes- so I went down to Gordon market to get just the right kind. Not too sour, not too ripe.”
“I bought enough to fill a 10kg bag, took it all the way down to the hotel. At that time security was tight so had to wait from 3pm to 4pm when the royal entourage were driving in for the prince’s speech, as he resided at Government House.”
“Mind you, Peter never told me who the mangoes were for, but when I arrived there I was allowed to hang around the vicinity despite being in a Paga Panthers jersey, jeans, and a pair of thongs,” Wamsi recalled smiling.
He remembers being escorted into the hotel just before the prince was escorted into the main function room.
“Peter walks out in uniform and asks me for the bag and gave me the shock of my life when he said that the bag for the prince to take to the Queen (Elizabeth II).”
“I was so surprised, considering that things like this that are royal requests follow through government protocol through the Governor General’s office. I had bought them from the simple Gordon market to take to Travel Lodge for royalty.”
“Anyways, the personal bodyguard to the prince walks out to me and shakes hands and asks for the mangoes and tells Peter to tell me to go up and relax in a suite upstairs.”
He said he was bewildered at the thought that he had bought mangoes for the Queen, which was a request by her son Prince Andrew.
“So when the event was over I had to excuse myself and leave as I had left work without letting my boss know I was going out.”
“Later on after the visit Peter received a telex message from the Queen thanking him for the mangoes.”
When the Sunday Chronicle Weekly Magazine contacted Ambassador Ilau in Jakarta- the former military commander confirmed the story which he said was known by only a few individuals.
“Yes the story is true! I was the Equerry to Prince Andrew at that time. Both myself and Dr Frank Torova flew to Hong Kong to join the royal party.”
“Then together in the Royal Aircraft (a BAE 146 four engine jet) we flew through Mindanao, Biak, then Port Moresby. I was with the prince throughout his visit to PNG during the SP Games in 1991,” Ambassador Ilau said.
When the message came via Prince Andrew thanking him for the visit and mangoes- they also wished him luck that he would be the future commander of the PNGDF, which he did after all.
“Even after all this time, I am 53 now and after 23 odd years (Prince) Andrew turns up this Saturday (yesterday), so I hope the prince will remember those mangoes after 23 years,” Wamsi said.
“This story has been with me all this time, and when the Indonesian President visited recently, it reminded of that time, and I felt that now is the right time for me to share with our people of the experience in the land of the unexpected.”
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