Dancing with Dad: Brigitte Hill’s Christmas Memory of Monaco
By Brigitte Hill · From her Christmas reminiscence, originally published 14 December 2024.
A normal childhood
In many ways our childhood was a very normal one. School, friends, family holidays … until I was about 13 years old, and I suddenly thought, “hang on a minute, Dad’s doing something interesting here!”.
I started taking an interest and immersing myself in this extraordinary and, to many others, exciting world we were in. And my passion and connection with motorsport endures to this day.
“Motor racing runs in our veins,” my mother would say
Motorsport was always there, always a part of my life, from the very beginning. In fact, my father took great pleasure in telling me that I was only conceived because his car broke down at Le Mans 24 Heures one year!
So many wonderful, wonderful times with so much fun and laughter. And, now I know more, beautiful and blessed times to reflect on.
The belle of the ball
One such special memory happened shortly before Christmas 1975. My parents had been invited to the opening of the Loews Hotel in Monaco on today’s Fairmont Hairpin. My mother couldn’t go, so she suggested to my father that he take me.
He loved the idea, so my mother and I took off for a mad rush around the shops in North London for a dress that I could wear. I was thrilled.
Can you imagine my excitement… and looking back it really was like a fairytale Christmas movie. We were late as ever for the commercial flight to Monaco, but the crew were ready for us and told me “we only delay flights for two people, the Queen and your father”. They were obviously used to him! “He could charm the birds from the trees,” my mother would say.
Saturday night was the gala dinner and what can I say? Magical, wonderful and a lot of fun and laughter! We were there together, father and daughter, respecting the occasion, respecting the moment, respecting what we represented. Being the best of ourselves and having the best time. Never missing the moment – one of my Dad’s most firmly held mantras.
After dinner, my father said, “Come on, let’s dance”. A man who was blind was dancing too and the DJ suddenly put on the Twist, so my father said to him, “You know when you dry your back with a towel, that’s the Twist!”.
Also read: Christmas at Home with Graham Hill.