Rachel and I had the rare honour of being invited to a Buckingham Palace Garden Party today by the Lord Chamberlain on behalf of Her Majesty The Queen. It was quite surreal walking through some of the reception rooms of Buckingham Palace from the front of the grounds to the enclosed gardens in the back.

We had our fair share of Battenberg cake, carrot cake, sarnies with the crusts cut off and cups of tea. They also served iced coffee and homemade lemonade, which we tried as well – lovely.

The Queen arrived at 4pm prompt and was a vision in a dress of lime green plus a hat. We think that she was dressed in such a bold colour simply so that people could see her and identify her quickly. There were, I estimate, about 5,000 people at the Garden Party. We watched for ages among the crowds to get another glimpse of Her Maj as she made her way around the throngs of people doing her meet and greet stuff to the Royal Tent to have her cuppa tea. She looked so small! The Duke of Edinburgh was with her as well, but no other members of the Royal Family that I could recognise.

All in all, quite a nice event to attend. I was invited because I’m the immediate past chairman of the GSD. Rachel came with me as my partner, as did Aprile Harman, as our official BSL Interpreter.