Afternoon tea at Buckingham Palace with the Queen
After 8 years of trying to go to a Queen’s Garden Party through the New Zealand Embassy at Buckingham Palace I had given up. It seems that unless you know someone, are rich or bribe the appropriate embassy personal it was impossible to get a ticket. I mentioned it to my wife that Canada probably did a similar thing inviting citizens living in the UK to the Queen’s Garden Party and other events. So she applied and got an invitation for that and Ascot on her first attempt. Unbelievable, typical of New Zealand though and there dodgy system of selecting people to attend Royal events.
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- All dressed up and somewhere to go
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- The Back Garden at Buckingham Palace
We decided to just go to one and choose the Queen’s Garden Party which seemed more intimate with us and the other 6000 guests. It also turned out to be her hubby’s 93rd birthday. You have to dress up which we did with me in lounge suit and Debbie in a pretty frock. There also are a lot of rules to follow which from what I saw people ignored such as no fascinators on hats which seemed all the women ignored with the exception of Debbie. You also were allowed your countries national dress but Debbie would have refused to be seen with me in kiwi national dress involving a black t-shirt, grubby hat, black shorts and gumboots.
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- The invitation arrives
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- The Entrance
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- Little bit of music
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- Some garden tea
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- An intimate gathering of 6000
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- A gap in the crowd
The party kicked off at 3pm and finished at 6pm. A couple of military bands played some music and you can walk around the garden and lake. The Queen and other royals greet prearranged people as they walk to their tent for tea. I must say the food was brilliant and they even give you ice cream. The gardens were a bit of a let down as it was the last garden party of the season nothing was really in flower or looked that nice aside from the lake.
Afterwards we went to see Bakerfields Mist starring Kathleen Turner at the theatre which was very enjoyable. All in all a lovely day to have afternoon tea at Buckingham Palace with the Queen and several thousand others. If your from one of the colonies give it a go and apply for a place it is an experience. If your a kiwi do not bother as it is a waste of time and energy, I say that after 8 years of trying.
Looks like a great time!
It was a lot of fun.
I’ve always wondered what went on at the Queen’s Garden Parties!
Lots of marquees, cucumber and mint sandwiches, cakes, ice cream and lemonade. No speeches just the Queen wandering past talking to selected people. Lovely gardens and trees.
I like the way you put your photos together like a collage. How did you do that 🙂
Thanks for the compliment. It is very easy when you add a photo from upload files, create a gallery and when it asked on the right the type of gallery just select tile mosaic. There also are four other types of gallery you can use.
Wow, I didn’t even know Canadians and New Zealanders can apply to go to the Queen’s Garden Party! Nice invitation, too! Too bad I don’t qualify. 🙁