I love Verdala Palace and I look forward to any event which is held there with enthusiasm. In Maltese we refer to it as Il-Palazz tal-Buskett for the obvious reason that it overlooks Buskett. It was built as a summer residence in 1585/86 by the French Grand Master Hughues Loubenx de Verdalle and designed by the extraordinary Gerolamo Cassar. I remember, many years ago, a relative of this Grand Master was in Malta and there was a ceremony at Verdala Palace which I had recorded for posterity in First. This aristocratic gentleman and his wife had sent me a letter of thanks which is somewhere in an envelope marked Souvenirs. I have no doubt my children will dispose of it in some skip when I am no more. What do such things mean to them after all?
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The location of Verdala, near Buskett was no doubt chosen by the Grand Master to enable him and his entourage to satisfy the favourite occupation of princes in the 16th and 17th centuries: hunting.
The ceremony for the appointment of President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca as an Honorary Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick was held in the Main Dining Hall with its beautiful frescos by the Tuscan master Filippo Paladini who, like Caravaggio, also a naughty boy, was regularly involved in law suits and riots and was finally condemned for three years as a galley slave. One year his galley came to Malta and this is how Verdalle managed to get the artist transferred to his service.
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Professor Nick Vaughan-Williams, newly designated head of the Department was present. In his witty speech Dr Spillane said that the fact that Prof. Vaughan-Williams had come to Malta was a tremendous tribute to our President, for he was in danger of missing the UK General Election, 'a tragedy for a British Professor of Politics!' The Warwick Alumni Malta Committee was present and in togas for the occasion. The members of the committee are Dr Norbert Bugeja, Amanda May Holmes, Rebecca Cremona, of Simshar fame, and Dr Spillane.
Dr Spillane said that the University of Warwick is now amongst the top 100 universities in the world, up with Oxford and Cambridge, both of which had an eight-hundred-year start in the race to the top. This university was founded 50 years ago and is as old as Malta's independence. He said that Her Excellency as far as he knew, was the first President to be made an Honorary Professor by a Foreign University. 'Whether in the poorest parts of Malta, visiting patients in hospital or calling on the Queen at Buckingham Palace, she has an empathy with people which only her most die-hard critics will deny.' He also commented that behind her compassion lay a brain, and an intellect, that had not been dulled by ambition. 'She is obviously determined to make life better for the Maltese people, particularly the less well off. Through her fund-raising efforts for the Community Chest and her Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society, she is doing just that.' Dr Spillane also remarked that she achieves this, not by patronising the poor or hobnobbing with the rich, but by involving people of all statuses and none. 'It was evident that her experience and intellect would add lustre to the University of Warwick and I therefore proposed her as an Honorary Professor.' Dr Spillane went on to explain that Dr Coleiro Preca was a very strong candidate, but the Department of Politics and International Studies at Warwick is notoriously picky. 'Other departments have twenty or more Honorary Professors, but Politics only had three.' The proposal was guided by Prof. Stuart Croft, Provost of Warwick, through various committees and other entities and finally the University Senate. And so our President was congratulated on becoming one of the departments four Honorary Professors. Truly an honour for us and for her.
To mark this occasion Dr Spillane had encouraged Warwick Alumni and friends to subscribe for a contribution to the Malta Community Chest fund and Euros 910 were raised.
Dr Spillane then introduced Professor Nick Vaughan-Williams who, after welcoming our President to his department at Warwick, praised her attention to economic, social and political injustice and said that this gives politics a human face 'and this strongly reflects the ethos of our Department.' He assured the attentive audience that in accepting the appointment as Honorary Professor, HE is joining one of the largest, most dynamic and successful Politics departments in Europe. 'On all available measures of quality, PAIS ranks among the highest-ranked institutions - in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework we were placed 4th out of 56 politics departments in the UK.' With its undergraduate population of 850, a Masters cohort of 160, and a PhD programme of more than 100, Warwick's student body is thriving and attracts candidates from over 56 countries worldwide. Prof. Vaughan-Williams then spoke of the university's four research clusters. He sees at least two concrete issue areas where Warwick's research strengths dovertail with our President's expertise. And here he mentioned Education, equality of opportunity and the family and the second focuses on EU geopolitics, border security and migration - 'our international relations and security cluster, of which I am a member, is at the forefront of academic debates about the crisis in the Mediterranean. 'Our hope is to pursue joint projets with Her Excellency in these and related areas of mutual concern and to develop internship opportunities, exchanges with colleagues at the University of Malta, and alumni activity.'
Professor Vaughn-Williams, at this stage, presented our President with a framed certificate to mark the Honorary Professorship. HE is very good at saying the right thing without too much preamble, while sounding sincere and as if she means it. She is warm and friendly and above all humane and did not let the Presidency go to her head. On the contrary.
It was a most pleasant reception.
I want to thank Dr Simon Mercieca who so very kindly followed me to Sliema (he lives in one of the Three Cities) when I told him that my car was not working properly. Such an act of kindness! My car was to collapse and as he predicted the clutch was about to go. Enough autobiography!
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