Three Soroptimists were commanded (yes, commanded) to attend the Queen’s Garden Party at Buckingham Palace on the 5th of June. They enjoyed afternoon tea in the presence of several royals including the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, the Princesss Royal, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, along with a variety of Dukes all dressed in their top hats and tails with pointed umbrellas to go with their sharp looking suits.

Around 8,000 people attend each Royal Garden Party of which there are four each year, three at Buckingham Palace and one at Holyrood House in Scotland.

The guests enter the Palace through the main gates at 3pm to the sound of Disney theme tunes played by the Band of the Coldstream Guards, including songs from Beauty and the Beast and Pirates of the Caribbean. At 4pm the band falls silent and the National Anthem is played signalling the entrance of the Royals onto the terrace, although they are rather difficult to see over the significant throng of guests with big hats!

By the time that members of the Royal Family had arrived the guests were forming long orderly lines to get to the food.  With an assortment of finger sandwiches and small tasty treats at hand it was easy to catch people sneaking back into line for a second helping of the tasty food!

The guests were for the most part wonderfully dressed and some beautiful traditional dress could also be seen. However there were some glaring “misses” such as a bright orange suit and a skirt with a slit cut far to high!

Our Soroptimists had a wonderful, once in a lifetime day at the Queen’s Garden Party strolling the grounds, looking over the lake and the cluster of baby swans at the edge. The rare flowers and beautiful trees , which in their size and age inspire a sense of longlivity and stability often associated with the Crown.