Afternoon Tea At Buckingham Palace!!

Today was a very special day indeed!  It's not every day one gets to have afternoon tea with the Royal Family!  Every year the Queen hosts several garden parties at Buckingham Palace in London and Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh. It is a chance to honour those from normal walks of life who have made a positive impact in their community. I wish I could say that it was on my own merit that I was invited, but in fact my sister and I were invited to accompany our friends Eddie and Audrey, who have been wonderful friends of our family since the late '60s and with whom I've stayed in contact since my parents both passed away.

Eddie and Audrey do all sorts of amazing things including decades of youth work in their community in the Newcastle area. This is not the first time they have been invited to the Palace so they were asked to bring two more people who had never been before. And so my sister and I were very blessed with their generous invitation.

Apparently, this was one of the largest garden parties with about 8000 guests. We arrived at the palace shortly before 3pm when the gates opened. We then went through to the inner courtyard and on through the palace onto the lawn and gardens. It was amazing to see so many beautifully dressed people. That was fascinating in itself!  We had time to tour the extensive gardens (see Extra photo) before the Queen and Prince Philip arrived at about 4pm, announced by the playing of the National Anthem. They then walked amongst the crowd for awhile before taking tea in the Royal tent. We got quite a good view of the Prince as he greeted certain people who were being specially honoured, but the Queen was further away and we only got glimpses of her through the crowds.

We were served sandwiches and cake and tea or cold drinks which we ate on a shaded area of the lawn. This was followed by ice cream which was very welcome on such a hot day!  Before long the  Royal procession left, followed by a March of the Yeomen Warders (Beefeaters) and the event finished with the National Anthem again. An amazing 3 hours which I will never forget!  What a privilege!  

For more information on the Garden Parties see this link.