Author unknown - posted on Facebook by Bill Parrish
- article contributed to HPREC Newsletter by John Minck.

This story - from around 1984 - is too good not to tell here.

Packard and Queen

When Queen Elizabeth visited the HP Cupertino site in 1983, it was quite a deal. It had been weeks in the planning, and everyone got briefed on protocol and how to behave and so forth. Everything was polished as near to perfection as was possible (the brass on the door handles absolutely 'shined'). The morning of the royal visit, the whole site was secured and sealed fairly early in the morning after most employees normally arrived, well before the royal party arrived.

Dave Packard and Doug Chance, as I recall, were the primary hosts. But this part of the story was recounted to us months later after the visit, by Doug Chance when he came and spoke to our hardware development lab. I'll tell it as close as I can remember, but I may have some details wrong.

Part of the security for the visit was that a bomb-sniffing dog was sent through the site ahead of the visit - to follow and check the path the queen was to take through the plant, sniffing for anything suspicious…like bombs. The queen's visit, and the dog's path started in building 40 Lobby (near Paul Ely's old office and the PBX) went through building 42L (VLSI Lab), then 41 (factory area), part of 43 (also manufacturing), then out across the courtyard… I think to 47, then back into 41 where I think they had some sort of reception maybe in the Oak Room… not sure I remember the details…

The view of people from our lab (47U at the time) was from out in the courtyard, watching her and the entourage coming out of the south side of 43 across the courtyard and into some other door, possibly into 47 somewhere. We were all out in the courtyard to watch and everyone applauded. Secret Service was armed and visible on the rooftops. For us, the event only took about a minute or two as she passed through the courtyard. I do remember the Secret Service made us stop throwing frisbees before the party entered the courtyard... but I digress.

So, the story Doug Chance told was that apparently Mr. Packard had arrived at Bldg. 40 earlier in order to meet with Doug Chance, and probably Dave Kirby and other execs for final details. So, Packard walked into the receptionist area in building 40 and asked, "Where's Doug?" Well, since the bomb-sniffing 'dog' had just been through the area, what the receptionist thought she 'heard' was "Where's the dog?"... or maybe more like "Whersa dog?"

So, she answered, "I think he's in the ladies room!"

Packard made an exasperated expression and said, "What in the hell is he doing in there?"

The receptionist answered, "I understand he's sniffing for bombs around the stalls."

Packard looked even more annoyed and replied, "Well... tell him when he's 'done' to meet me right away in the conference room!"

That got quite a bit of laughter out of our group of engineers... but I've never seen this story written down anywhere since... but it seemed worth telling.

I have to admit for me it was kind of a thrill to see the queen... I had been aware of her from a very early age - since I started collecting stamps back in the '50s... and had seen her image on stamps even before starting first grade.

But that story... is a hoot!"