Man honored by Queen has taken royals on World Trade Center tours for 15 years

PEEKSKILL, N.Y. — Glenn Guzi has been hosting the British royal family at the World Trade Center site for 15 years.

Now it's earned him an honorary title from Queen Elizabeth II.

The 47-year-old program director for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has been named an honorary member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, an exclusive membership that rewards contributions in arts, science and public service.

“It was completely unexpected," said Guzi, a Peekskill resident whose ties to the royal family date back more than 25 years. "I had no inclination or any indication that this was something that was going to happen or would even be possible to happen.”

It all began in 1990, when Guzi met Prince Charles and Princess Diana while studying abroad in London. Years later, Princess Anne, the queen's daughter, asked to tour the World Trade Center site of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks during a visit to the U.S. Guzi, who worked for the Port Authority, was her guide.

It steamrolled from there, with Guzi hosting not only the British royals, but numerous world leaders on tours of the site over the years.

“It was one of these things that just started happening, where all the members of the royal family, when they’d come to New York, they’d want to see it," he said. "It became this thing where it was just an evolving, ongoing relationship that over 15 years really developed into something much more than just, like, a business relationship. The queen, Her Majesty, had invited my mother and I to come visit for a garden party a number of years ago."

The tours — and the World Trade Center site — are personal for Guzi. He worked on the 68th floor of Tower One at the time of the terror attacks. He would have been there that day but for pure chance: He took the day off to run errands.

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“It’s very personal," he said. "It’s hard to say in a brief sentence or a couple of sentences. But I think for me, what happened on that day and my involvement every day since in the rebuilding of the World Trade Center, it’s not a job. It’s been more of a sense of, ‘I have to work on fixing what happened to us at the World Trade Center.’”

Danny Lopez, British consul general to New York, said in a statement that the World Trade Center site has been "both a place of pilgrimage and a symbol of the UK-US special relationship." He said Guzi's role in opening the site to dignitaries had been an important part of that process, earning him honorary membership in the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

"I congratulate Glenn on his well-deserved honor," Lopez said. "He has provided invaluable assistance in facilitating poignant visits for many British officials and dignitaries to the World Trade Center site and its Memorial Plaza and museum. Glenn's honorary award is an acknowledgement of his significant contributions to British-American cultural relations."

Guzi said his relationship with the royal family has been part of his own mission to see the World Trade Center site rise from the ashes.

“Some of their interest when they’re in New York is to come see the World Trade Center, not because of a morbid curiosity, but because of a sense of duty and a sense, even today, that no one should really forget," he said.

"Even 15 years later, the message of terrorism, what it does to a people that want to live in peace, is important," he added. "So, I reflect more on that rather than, ‘Oh, this is interesting and unique.’ To me, I’m always taken aback by the entire royal family’s real sense of connection and deep desire to understand and be supportive.”

Follow Jorge Fitz-Gibbon on Twitter: @jfitzgibbon