Sorry, say the knitters, private do. Despair is setting in when St Bartholomew's say they'd be delighted to entertain me. Of course there's no chance of talking to Anne, but they're happy to let me share a room with her as she opens the simulation centre. Anne steps out of the Bentley, a vision in yellow. We follow her past the Queen Elizabeth II wing.
Every stop is punctuated by handshakes.
I ask Peter Archer, the Press Association's royal correspondent, whether she wears gloves because she doesn't want to be polluted by the masses. No, he says - if you had to shake as many hands as she does, your digits would get sore. He says the Queen goes through a pair a day. In his six years on the job, Anne has never uttered a word to Peter. Diana, of course, would often stroll over for a chat, and since her death Charles has learned to do the same.