The as yet untold story of a daring mission into the heart of Hvar’s tourist season last year, on behalf of His Royal Highness Prince Harry: Codename Operation Moccasin.
The Whitehall hotline was buzzing. Incident in Croatia. Damage control. It wasn’t long before the pictures were beamed around the world of a British prince jumping fully clothed into a nightclub swimming pool on the island of Hvar. The reaction was swift, and a contrite Harry was seen doing good works with disadvantaged children in another country 48 hours later. That was not the whole story, however, as we can exclusively reveal the secret mission of Our Man in Zagreb in the wake of the royal swim.
As per protocol, the British Embassy was informed of the prince’s visit, but no assistance had been requested as this was a private visit. No assistance requests prior to the incident, that is, but a royal request in the aftermath of all the publicity sent Our Man in Zagreb on a daring mission into the heart of Croatia’s tourist season on a seemingly impossible mission.
Our fun-loving prince communicated through the appropriate channels that one of the royal entourage had left behind a credit card and a rather fine pair of leather moccasin shoes, and a request was made to pull out all the diplomatic stops to retrieve the lost items. With a dedication, skill and agility reminiscent of the best Bond movie, Our Man in Zagreb – a faithful Crown servant who funded the trip from his own pocket so that no taxpayer’s money would be involved – set off on his clandestine mission, arriving on Hvar in order to plan his search.
With his trained diplomatic skills, Our Man in Zagreb not only sourced, but also retrieved the said items on his first day, with a rather surprising person in possession of the goods. Our Man stealthily retreated from whence he came, arranging for the return of the rather fine pair of shoes and the card, only to find the cardholder had already cancelled it, and so it remains in British diplomatic hands to this day.
The British Empire at its finest – rapid response for the most important foreign policy issues…
I first heard the story at the Croatia Food and Wine Festival a few months ago, and in more detail the other night as Boy George decided to hide in his room at Hotel Adriana. Although I had no connection to the original story, there has been a positive knock-on effect from the daring Moccasin Mission, via introductions to the diplomat and guardian of the items, which has resulted in some interesting opportunities and open doors to Total Hvar, as well as a book deal. So thanks, Harry, and your shoeless friend – whose identity is known but we will not reveal.
A Chinese simulation of events in Veneranda can be viewed in the video below.
