{"id":420,"date":"2012-06-13T15:15:20","date_gmt":"2012-06-13T14:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/south-lancashire\/?p=420"},"modified":"2019-03-05T17:57:18","modified_gmt":"2019-03-05T16:57:18","slug":"a-day-at-the-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/south-lancashire\/2012\/06\/13\/a-day-at-the-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"A Day at The Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Margaret<\/a>Margaret Baker, President SI Bolton, describes a tea party to remember.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last December I received a letter from the Lord Lieutenant\u00a0nominating me for an invitation to a Royal Garden Party. It was a wonderful\u00a0surprise and quite thrilling to receive the actual invitation itself in April.<\/p>\n

The weather had been dreadful so my sister (my guest) and I\u00a0bought umbrellas (white and lacy, of course) for showers, and throwaway packamacs\u00a0(see-through, of course) for sudden downpours; and I wondered how much thermal\u00a0underwear I could fit under my posh frock to keep warm (answer \u2013 not much).\u00a0 However, by the time the day itself arrived it was glorious sunshine with an\u00a0 expected high of 26 degrees. (Decision now – how\u00a0little could I wear under my\u00a0 posh frock?)<\/p>\n

We entered by the Hyde Park gate and the first official I met\u00a0asked about my chain of office. It was a pity he was a guy but maybe he had a\u00a0wife. We were able to wander freely through the palace gardens and around the\u00a0 back of the palace itself. We could sit or walk or wander or simply enjoy the\u00a0 fact that we were in Her Majesty\u2019s back garden.\u00a0 I, and probably every female there, spent some of (most of?) the time\u00a0thinking \u201cOh that\u2019s a lovely hat\u201d \u2013 or otherwise! In truth though there weren\u2019t\u00a0many \u2018otherwises\u2019 and there were certainly lots of eye catching arrangements.<\/p>\n

When the national anthem was played at 4pm we saw the Queen\u00a0 in a peach coloured dress, coat and hat standing by Prince Philip on the\u00a0terrace. She set off on a 100 metre walk to the royal tea tent \u2013 a walk that\u00a0 took her nearly an hour. There were no ropes just a polite path made from the\u00a0 terrace to the tent by the crowds. As we couldn\u2019t get to the front of this\u00a0pathway we chose to wait by the tent itself where we had a clear, uninterrupted\u00a0view as the royal party made their way to eat. The Queen and the Prince were\u00a0 smiling and clearly enjoying the event but I have to admit to not recognising\u00a0the other royals in the party!<\/p>\n

We collected our tea which included cucumber sandwiches, obligatory\u00a0I think, and several other varieties, with numerous cakes suitably topped with\u00a0decorative crowns. There was plenty to eat, and ice cream was brought around to\u00a0the guests later on.<\/p>\n

We saw Her Majesty leave her tea tent and wave. I think at\u00a0one point she spotted me but couldn\u2019t get through the crowds to chat. Well,\u00a0 that\u2019s my story and I\u2019m sticking to it!<\/p>\n

After the national anthem at 6pm, the royal party returned\u00a0 into the palace (and HM probably had her hat and shoes off within five minutes)\u00a0and several of us risked a sneaky phone photo (no cameras were allowed) before\u00a0walking through a couple of rooms in the palace into the inner courtyard, then\u00a0out under the balcony into the more well viewed areas inside the gates. We were\u00a0reluctant to leave there as we knew the huge gates were a point of no return\u00a0and we wanted to prolong the experience as long as we could. We may not have\u00a0made the official video being made of the afternoon but we certainly featured\u00a0on numerous tourist photos from those with their noses pressed up to the famous\u00a0railings.<\/p>\n

It was a wonderful experience and we had to keep reminding\u00a0ourselves just exactly where we were. It was a wonderful privilege to have had the invitation and an experience I shall never forget.<\/p>\n

PS Does anyone need a white lacy umbrella or see-through rainmac?\u00a0(Thermal underwear needed for my next holiday!)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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