It may not have escaped your notice but Tarek was awarded with a B.E.M in 2021 for his services
to the community during the pandemic and first lockdown, one of the lovely consequences of this
was an invite to go to a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace.
We received our official Royal invitation about 2 weeks before we were due to attend and we set
about organising clothes for the day; the dress code being for ladies a day dress and hat and for
gentlemen a lounge suit or mourning suit.
I had purchased a beautiful crepe cream dress with poppies on and a fascinator which I was really
unsure about wearing! Tarek had a lovely linen suit, perfect as fortunately the sun shone all day.
We set off down to London excited to be going to such a prestigious event; a once in a life time visit. With your invite you are sent detailed instructions for the day, aside from what to wear there is an itinerary, detailed times to arrive, what to bring, what not to bring with you.
We were informed you can arrive at either the front gate and leave by the back gate or arrive at the back gate and leave from the front (if you want photos to commemorate the day), we arrived at the Hyde Park Corner Entrance at 3.30 ish to join a small queue amongst a barrage of police officers with huge guns. We showed our IDs and entered the garden gate into the gardens of Buckingham Palace.
The Gardens are huge and have beautiful sandstone gravel paths, a huge lake opened before us along with huge trees and beautiful flower beds, rose gardens; a beautiful secret oasis in the centre of London. We ambled through the gardens excitedly soaking in the tranquil atmosphere amongst other people feeling just like us. Everyone looked fantastic.
As we wandered through the Arboretum the grand tents came into view, huge white marquees and carried on the air was the sound of the Royal brass bands, and then Buckingham Palace appeared as we crossed on to the lawns which were humming with guests, and the true extent of the proceedings was revealed. People were making their way over to the rear entrance to Buckingham Palace, this was where the Royals would be appearing before commencing their meet and greet. We joined them, whilst observing everyone else, there were beautiful women in Japanese traditional kimonos, soldiers, men of the cloth, police officers, people from all walks of life. The atmosphere was serene with an electric soft buzz running above it, a collective feeling from everyone.
At 4pm the Royals appeared; The Duchess of Cambridge, The Earl and Countess
of Wessex, they stood for the National Anthem before moving through the Gentleman at Arms
who form lanes for the Royal family to move through the crowds to meet people.
These men were from a bygone era dressed in funny little outfits with gathered socks, little fabric
rosettes on their buckles, shoes and hat.
We stood for a while trying to get a picture and then decided to visit the tea tent. We manoeuvred through the crowds to finally cross the river of people and reach the tent. Inside the fabric is white and billows from the ceiling, there were little stations set up with tea, sandwiches and cakes and you were invited to help yourself to ham finger sandwiches, Indian style wraps, Victoria sponge, carrot cake, passion fruit tarts all in miniature form, needless to say they were all delicious! We sat whilst enjoying these and soaked in the atmosphere with a brass band playing in the background and then decided to join the river of people again to catch a glimpse of a royal. We spotted The Earl of Wessex and Sophie his wife who looked beautiful, he spoke a few words to the crowd before moving along. Before long it was time to go and we wandered towards the front entrance to get a photo outside the palace and see another part of the grounds. As we exited the palace the Platinum Jubilee planning came into view, grand stands, the Tree of Trees which was an amazing sight and golden sculptures, it had been an amazing day and a trip of a life time.