Bermudian author and former Bermuda College lecturer Angela Barry got to meet the Prince of Wales at the Commonwealth People’s Forum in London.

Ms Barry met the heir to the throne after she was selected to have her short story included in an anthology of Commonwealth writers called So Many Islands and Janet Steele, one of forum’s organisers, introduced them.

Ms Barry said: “She came to me and asked me to stand there for a minute with Kendel Hippolyte, another contributor to the anthology and a former writer-in-residence in Bermuda.

“We found out who it was about 15 minutes before we met him, and it was quite a surprise,” Ms Barry said of meeting Prince Charles.

Ms Barry added: “When I saw him, I had the same feeling that I felt when I saw the Queen when she came to the Bermuda College in the 1990s.

“His face was so familiar and when he spoke to me, the voice was so familiar.

“These are perfect strangers but, because of their position we, have a sense of who they are. We can recognise them.

“When he came to us Janet Steele talked to him about our book, then he spoke to Kendel and another of the writers who had appeared and then he spoke to me.

“He said ‘So, you are one of the writers; thank you for the book. I’ll try my best to read it’.

“I thought that is pretty unlikely, but he was extremely pleasant and I felt that it must be a very taxing job to have to meet so many strangers on a daily basis.

“It seems an unenviable job, but he did it with grace. I said I was from Bermuda, I talked about the book and that I wrote short stories.”

Ms Barry was invited to read an excerpt of her short story Beached at the Commonwealth Foundation event last week which brought together Commonwealth heads of government, as well as VIPs like UK Prime Minister Theresa May and Microsoft tycoon Bill Gates.

She said her story was about the “attempted rescue of a marine and a human creature”.

Ms Barry added the Commonwealth Foundation director Vijay Krishnarayan asked her to encourage more Bermudians to participate in future forums, which also include events for business, women and young people.

She said: “The director said my participation as a speaker as opposed to a delegate was the highest profile of any of the overseas territories and a first for Bermuda.

“He wanted me to encourage Bermuda’s participation in the future. I will do everything I can to do that.

“There was a whole forum on youth — we saw young people in their teens who were part of groups and organisations speaking on environmental issues, youth development and all sorts of things.

“I could see some young people of Bermuda being part of that.”

Ms Barry added: “There’s a lot we can gain and a lot we can give by being part of organisations like this.”