An auction of an autobiography by the late Queen’s pharmacist has “raised £1,750 for…Rennie Grove Peace Hospice”, he today (June 9) told C+D.
Uma Patel, who is also Avicenna’s former director, auctioned his autobiography at the annual Sigma conference in May for the company’s sponsored charity.
Now, he has revealed that the winning bidder took home the book for £500.
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And afterwards, he received three additional offers for a copy totalling £1,250.
“Sigma will match that making a total of £3,500,” he added.
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The Rennie Grove Peace Hospice is a charity “providing patient-centred palliative care and bereavement support within Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire”, Sigma told delegates in May.
“Care is provided at no cost to the patients and families and while it receives a small proportion of NHS funding, [it] could not deliver [its] services without the generous donations received from the local community,” it added.
Royal run-ins
Patel’s book, called “By Royal Appointment”, was first published in June 2024.
The autobiography details his life story – from being born to a Gujarati family in Nairobi to becoming pharmacist to Queen Elizabeth II.
The book describes several run-ins with the royals, including meeting Princess Diana at a party where she spoke to Patel’s wife “about children, as they both had two boys”.
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It also describes a letter sent by Patel to the Duke of Edinburgh after the royal spotted some cables bundled in the corner of an aerospace factory in Scotland and exclaimed that “an Indian is doing [the organisation’s] wiring”.
The book includes a copy of the Duke’s apologetic letter back to Patel, in which he assures him that causing distress “was most certainly not his Royal Highness’s intention”.
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Meanwhile, three pharmacies had their Royal Warrants renewed by King Charles and Queen Camilla in December.
And the news comes as one Yorkshire pharmacy raised over £200 for charity after holding a coffee morning in its premise in April, while another pharmacist announced plans to host a music festival in his back garden to raise donations for a mitochondrial disease charity.
