We didn’t have a clue what we were doing - the story of the Queen opening Stadium MK

From driving on the Stadium MK pitch in a Bentley to the joy of releasing a red balloon into the sky, Pete Winkelman said the opening ceremony of Stadium MK by QueenElizabeth II is a memory he will forever hold close to his heart.

Her Royal Highness visited Milton Keynes in November 2007 to officially open the home of MK Dons.

For chairman Winkelman it was a series of firsts. The club was still in it’s infancy, only in their third season in the new city, the stands were packed for the first time since the ground had opened just a few months earlier for the start of the League Two season, and it was his first time meeting the Queen.

Not only that though, Winkelman said she knew how to make an entrance too.

“The noise when she arrived, I remember!” he said. “I was expecting her to walk out of the tunnel where the players come out, but they had her come out in her Bentley, down the service tunnel and driving around the edge of the pitch! It was like a chariot, it was an amazing moment.

“The stadium wasn’t even finished, and she made that comment as she was wandering around! It was a fantastic moment - the power of the Queen.”

“It was one of the most pressured and stressful moments, but also one of my greatest memories. It will stay with me forever.

“I gave her a red balloon, the symbol of Milton Keynes, and she said ‘what do I do with this?’ and I told her to let it go, and she did and she watched it sail over her head!”

Speaking on the Queen’s passing, the chairman added: “The shock of her passing is still something we’re all still getting used to.

“I immediately look back at those moments when the Queen touched our lives and we were so lucky she came to Milton Keynes to open the stadium, and gave us a lifetime memory.

“She had a knack of making you relax just enough to make it all work. She was a celebrity in status, but also had humility. It was a wonderful moment.

“What was great for us too, was we had the legend that is Paul Ince as our manager who had met her on numerous occasions through his England career, so it gave us a sense that we knew how to do is, but the reality of it was we didn’t have a clue!”