Page 45 - br-may-2020

May 2020 May 2020

BUCKINGHAM PALACE GARDEN PARTY

What a difference a year can make. This time last year Paul and I were finalising
what we were going to wear to the Royal Garden Party.
th
As the days rolled ever closer to Wednesday May 15 I experienced a strange mix
of apprehension and excitement. I had bought navy blue shoes, handbag, cream
jacket and a rather large, but glamorous, cream fascinator, but I didn’t bother
about getting a new frock, I already had a perfectly good one from M&S that
would suffice, and let’s face, it no one that had ever seen me in it would be there.
Paul wore his best suit; we invested in a new cream shirt, navy blue tie and a very
expensive pair of black shoes.
Paul pulled back the bedroom curtains on the day and the weather was bright
sunshine quite a perfect early summer day, “just right for a Garden Party “he said. Tony Bates’s house, where Bill was
born, drawn by Fred Pitfield, that is
Amy and Tom came with us and we set off to catch the early train.
in the book. John Pitfield now has
I always like the idea of seeing the same country side from a different perspective the publishing rights on the book.
and it was quite beautiful going through Dorset seeing all kinds of flora and fauna,
animals and property. The train is great place to nose into the gardens to see how
others live.
Then into the New Forest, where I spent so much time as a child, the ribbons of
sunlight shone through the trees and the lovely forest ponies were easy to spot. As
the train got closer to its destination the landscape changed dramatically,
everywhere was urban there was graffiti on walls, large buildings that went
skyward and lots of people. As we got off the train at Waterloo station and started
to walk out I was hit by the reality of the big city and the homeless crisis that exists,
we were in a different world. The same country, only a few hours up the train A clearer copy of the 1863
track, but a different world.
village picture shown on
The sun shone bright over London Town, boats were going up the Thames, tourists page 6 of the book
were gathering to go on the Eye, and we made our way over Westminster Bridge
as the bells of Westminster Abbey were ringing. I said ‘they are ringing for us you
know’. Amy and Tom looked at each other and raised their eyebrows, it was quite
an exhilarating feeling seeing the Houses of Parliament and just being in this great
city steeped in history accompanied by this incredible sound.
We had brought a picnic and we made our way over to St James Park and sat on
the grass to eat. We had about an hour and a half before we needed to be at
the Palace, so we went to the Royal Mews. The Mews is home to her Majesty the
Queen’s Carriage collection and we were able to sit in one and pretend we were
Royal.
The main attraction is of course the Gold State Coach this has been used at every
coronation since that of George IV in 1821. The coach is still used today, but only

56 45