Ivor Novello gazes from his plinth beside Wales Millennium Centre on the thousands of people milling beneath. “Did I tell you the story —?” “Yes,” Rosemarie interrupts. “Very musical . . .” Think of Sir Ivor and one generally remembers (assuming one knows of it) his alleged bedding by/of Sir Winston Churchill and the great statesman’s description of this experience. One thinks of it especially now, when the crowds are gathered in Cardiff Bay for National Armed Forces Day.

Planes roar overhead, including two Second World War job I photographed but could not identify, and later the Red Arrows, last encountered two weeks ago at Asthall Manor (are they tracking my movements?). On the ground, service personnel swelter in uniforms that must be hell on such a hot day. I eye them pityingly from the balcony of Signor Valentino’s restaurant where I’m sipping chilled Trebbiano over a plate of taglitelle with salmon and cream sauce.

Food is pretty good in these parts. Around the Millennium Centre are dozens of restaurants — many chains like Café Rouge and Harry Ramsden’s, but some Welsh-based enterprises, too. The previous evening we had an excellent dinner (salmon and samphire for me) at the Garcon! Brasserie Francaise. Later I discovered the boss was a pal of Welsh National Opera’s company manager. Good to support the local boyos.

We were in Cardiff to attend the company’s superb new production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Having never previously visited the Millennium Centre this was the moment to make good that omission, with Rigoletto on Friday night thrown in for good measure.

The Armed Forces Day celebrations were an added bonus, though the many visitors involved in these put pressure on hotel beds in the city. This was compounded by the fact that Sir Paul McCartney was doing his stuff for the fans on Saturday night at the Millennium Stadium, before heading to London to make himself available for review by my colleague Reg Little.

But the extremely helpful tourist information centre found us comfortable bed and breakfast accommodation in Cathedral Road, which conveniently happened to have four pubs on its doorstep.

A surprise on Saturday at The Mastersingers was to find HRH The Prince of Wales, WNO’s Patron, among the audience and clearly enjoying it hugely, It was he, indeed, who took the lead in the long standing ovation at the end. His presence will have furnished the Oxford-based bass-baritone Christopher Purves (right) with the opportunity — should he ever wish to take it — to point out that he must be one of the very few people to have ‘mooned’ before the Prince of Wales, his character Beckmesser having pulled down his trousers to display a large bruise on his backside.

The Duchess of Cornwall missed this revelation. Having been with her husband during his earlier engagements for Armed Forces Day she dipped out of attendance at the opera. Perhaps she thought six hours was too long to endure without a cigarette.