This week sees my first ever brush with British Royalty.

I have been nominated for two British business awards this year: Entrepreneur of the Year, and Young Ice Breaker. In a lead up to the awards ceremony which is on Thursday, November 6th, I’ve been invited by the great people of Pearl Media to attend a VIP round table discussion with HRH Prince Andrew, Sir David Tang (of Shanghai Tang fame), and an array of other interesting folk to discuss British business in China. Pretty daunting to be honest. I went out and bought a new suit last week for this particular occasion… The first suit I’ve bought in eight years and cost a bloody fortune, but how many times in a lifetime do you sit down with the Duke of York?

The awards are the following night, previous to which I had to do two panel interviews with five very smart “business types” to talk about why I deserve to win each award. To be frank, the competition looks too good to beat. I’ve met a few of them and must say they are all really good, smart, focused people and I truly feel quite amazed and honoured to be in their company.

I’ve designed a special t-shirt to wear to the awards in keeping with our theme at Plastered. My mother seems quite excited about attending the ceremony … she’s always had a thing for Prince Andrew.