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The people who run universities often figure in the Queen's birthday honours - but just why did Geoffrey Skelsey, registrar of the University of Cambridge, become a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order last week?

This is, after all, the bit of the list normally reserved for members of the royal household including, this year, the surveyor of works at Windsor Castle and the gentleman usher to the Queen. Apparently, Mr Skelsey's background of organising ceremonies at Cambridge for 25 years has made him a semi-detached member of the palace elite, since such events are attended by the university's chancellor, better known as the Duke of Edinburgh.