OBE for Ronnie Watt
The
5th of July 2011 was a very special day Her Majesty the Queen presented Ronnie Watt with Officer of the Order of the British Empire for Services to Karate.
The
ceremony was held at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the historical and beautiful classical building in Edinburgh, capital of Scotland. Also attending the presentation was Ronnie’s wife Gail, daughter Roxanne, and very special guest Dr Fritz Wendland, long time friend
and colleague.
Last
year Ronnie was given another great honour only given to only a very few
European people — the Order of
the Rising Sun with Gold and Silver Rays from the Emperor of Japan.
The
OBE Officer of the British Empire award ceremony lasted approximately one and a
half hours with several hundred guests and a full military orchestra. The Queen
presented the awards to the well-deserved recipients and was so well
briefed that she had a knowlegable and kind word to all receiving their awards.
Ronnie’s good friend Lord Charles Bruce was a body guard for the Queen at the Garden Party
in the afternoon and had heard from several people at the investiture, that apparently the Order of the Rising Sun
made quite an impact! He doubted that the Queen is often in the position of
conferring an order on one of her subjects whose work already has been recognised so prominently by the
Emperor of Japan!
Ronnie was delighted and greatly honoured by
receiving the award in the form of a beautiful gold medal, which was the
highlight of 46 years of very hard work. Ronnie organised the third world championships
in 2001 and has worked with the WKC from the beginning of this organisation.
This was a very special occasion for Ronnie’s Family and the Federation.
