When the royal couple first arrived, they were greeted with a huge cheer and the Queen and duke walked along a path to the mansion stopping briefly to meet some of the well-wishers.
But cleverly done, networking can reap huge benefits for career success, says the UK's renowned "networking queen" and "professor of schmooze" Julia Hobsbawm.
Speaking in advance of today's Queen's Speech, Mr Maude hailed what he called a "huge area of agreement" between Conservative and Liberal Democrat cabinet ministers.