Tea with the Queen - Barbara Roe and Phyllis Smith
We
had a lovely surprise in February when we received a letter from the High
Sheriff of Bedfordshire saying that we had been nominated for an
invitation to the Queen's Garden Party.
Our official invitation arrived in June for Tuesday, 21st
July.
Some
of our friends and neighbours gathered outside Phyllis's house waving
flags to see us off to the Palace. We
were a bit concerned, as the weather did not look very promising.
We arrived at The Mall at 2:45 pm and were amazed at the length of
the queue of cars lining up to get to the gates of the Palace.
When we finally arrived at the gates we had to show our passports
and yellow cards. We then had
our photographs taken so that we could show off our outfits to friends!
To
get to the gardens we had to cross a courtyard, through two red-carpeted
rooms and down steps to the gardens.
We followed the crowd and headed for the Tea Marquee queue.
The food was delicious; assorted sandwiches, strawberry tarts,
small cakes and tea or orange juice.
The rain started just as we sat down to eat our tea.
Luckily we had our umbrellas with us.
We
then noticed that people were making their way towards the Palace so
guessed that it was time for the Queen to appear.
We managed to get in front of the crowd.
Members of the Yeomen of the Guard dressed in their uniforms made
sure that we did not stray on to the path.
The Queen arrived wearing a flowered dress, coat and hat in light
green. She carried her usual
black handbag! She was
followed by the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and the Duchess of
Cornwall, who looked very elegant in a silk, champagne coloured dress and
matching coat and hat. Princess
Anne wore a red suit. They
were followed by various other ladies and gentlemen.
We had a lovely view of the Royal Party even though they did not
pass by us. Unfortunately it
still rained.