What we did last Wednesday!

Yes, that's right ~ we attended a Royal Garden Party :-)  Adrian was nominated by his company for his years of service (36, to be precise!) to the rail industry.

It was a rather surreal experience; we walked through the Queen's "front door", through her house and out into her back garden!  Of course, we shared the occasion with around 10,000 other folk but it was still a special afternoon.

We weren't that close to the front of the crowd to see HM walking along the "avenue" of people waiting to be presented, but had a good view of her and Prince Philip standing at the top of the terrace steps whilst the national anthem was played.  She looked very nice in a deep lavender outfit, and Prince Philip looked very well especially considering that he had had a minor operation on his hand that morning.

As always at these royal garden parties, other members of the family were also present.  Last week this included Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, and Princess Beatrice.   

After the Queen had passed along the avenue, Adrian and I strolled around the garden.  It was lovely, so peaceful, and hard to remember that we were in the heart of London.  It was very interesting to see the different people who were there, a good afternoon for people watching LOL  I had been in agonies over what to wear for the occasion, but needn't have worried in the slightest when I saw what some of the ladies had chosen!  There were also lots of folk in military uniforms, members of the clergy in their various-coloured cassocks and some folk in the national dress of their respective countries.

A once-in-a-lifetime experience and a day to remember :-)