Posted on 09/29/2013 5:24:55 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Welsh schoolteacher Norma Walmsley has opened up on her time when she worked for one of the richest families on the planet - the Brunei Royal Family.
It's a tale straight out of Oscar Hammerstein’s classic musical The King and I.
Former Holywell schoolteacher Norma Walmsley has lifted the lid on her time as a governess to the Brunei Royal Family, who have ruled the country for more than 600 years.
She tutored their 12 children for 10 years after being personally head-
hunted by the Sultan of Brunei himself.
Now 73 and settled in Pantsasaph, near Holywell, Norma’s life now is worlds away from her time working in the palace of one of the richest men in the world
“It really was an interesting time,” she said. “Sometimes I can’t quite believe it myself.”
Norma Walmsley at a staff a party at Hari Raya. Picture with her highness Hajah MariamNorma Walmsley at a staff a party at Hari Raya. Picture with her highness Hajah Mariam At the time, Norma and her husband, who worked with British Aerospace, were settled in Brunei. In 1989, she was appointed head of the International School, where the second wife of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Hajah Mariam, sent her children.
“She brought her children to the school and I taught them for a while. Eventually, she felt that they needed a little more help and asked me to tutor them at home.”
So impressed were the royals with Norma’s teaching, they attempted to hire her as a private tutor – but she said she found it difficult juggling her role at the school with the extra work of tutoring the royal children.
At first, she promised she would find them another – and then she was sent a personal invitation by the Sultan himself.
“I was invited to the polo field, where he was playing with Prince Charles as it happens. We spoke together and he ended up making me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”
Catapulted into palace life, Norma went from teaching 400 or so pupils to teaching the royal family in opulent surroundings. The Sultan, who has ruled the country for 46 years, is one of the richest men in the world, with much of his income coming from oil.
“The palace really was something,” said Norma. “I remember a marble staircase with a solid gold handrail from one of my first visits there.”
Lessons with Norma quickly became a high point for the Sultan’s children, she said. In one of the palace’s hundreds of rooms, she created a classroom where she would conduct her lessons.
“I think it was the only time they experienced anything close to a normal life,” she said. “Of course, they were very different from other children and they had a lot of nannies between them. But I was different and I did things differently.”
Norma Walmsley, former Governess to the Brunei royal family dressed as Mary Poppins during 5th birthday partyNorma Walmsley, former Governess to the Brunei royal family dressed as Mary Poppins during 5th birthday party Her time with the family came to an end in 1999, but the family still remember her to this day, particularly as the Sultan named one of his younger sons after Norma’s son Martin.
“They called him Mateen and I was told it was because they quite liked the name Martin,” she said.
The Sultan also gave her numerous gifts, including a camper van which Norma used to tour the US.
Norma can’t help but note the similarities between her story and that of Anna Leonowens, whose experiences as a governess for the King of Siam were turned into a book and a hit musical.
“Some aspects of our lives are remarkably similar – and not just the fact we’ve both worked for royal families,” she said.
“Her life and my life seem to run parallel.
“She was born near Bangor and I used to live in Bangor for a time. She married a military man, as did I, and we both had three children – two boys and one girl.
“The main difference of course is that we were born 100 years apart – exactly 100 as it happens, as I was born in 1930 and she was born in 1830.”
Norma tours Flintshire and Cheshire now giving talks about her time with the Brunei Royal Family – including one she has named The King and I.
Brunei ping.
Then at some point in the show I noticed Deborah Kerr... and started getting this really weird feeling... kinda like I got when I was scoping out Miss Robertson, one of the guards at OKC Daniel Webster Junior Prison, only... different. World class different, even if it was just something on B&W TV.
The same thing happened not long after when I saw Peggy Fleming skate.
To this day I haven't figured it out. :)
Keep at it!!
It’ll come to you!!
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