Tea with the Queen...

... and hundreds of other people.

The Canadian High Commission is allotted tickets to the Queen's Garden Parties every year and they give them away by lottery. Any Canadian citizen can apply and then bring a (not necessarily Canadian) guest.

Unfortunately, cameras are not allowed inside, so we had to take this one picture, drop the camera back off at my place, then go into Buckingham Palace. We got to go in through the front entrance and walk through the palace to get to the "backyard" (there must be a more posh name for that). It's funny, because we visited Buckingham Palace as a tourist on one of my first weekends in London. I remember the audio guide talking about how that's the entrance that diplomats and others use to enter the Garden Parties.

Inside the palace grounds, there were lots of people already lined up forming a human hallway for the Queen to walk through to the Royal Tea Tent. Some people had been picked out of the crowd to stand in the "hallway" for the Queen to talk to on the way. It must have taken her about an hour to get through to her tent, and the ominous rainclouds were threatening the whole way but she was prepared with a white umbrella with black trim! (It didn't rain luckily.)

She was dressed in a beautiful light purple suit and matching hat with turquoise trim. Her outfits are always so cheerful, yet classy! Her husband was also there along with Prince Andrew and some members of the Royal Family that I didn't recognise.

Tea was served in the regular tents for us commoners. (There was also a diplomat tent - maybe I'll get to go there next year!) The Queen has a special brew for the Garden Parties, and it was quite good. There were finger sandwiches with the crusts cut off, mini scones with clotted cream and jam, and lots of different mini-desserts. I went back for seconds and thirds of the scones (clotted cream is SO good).

We walked around the big grounds. It's so strange that this palatial oasis is surrounded by city traffic. There was a rose garden, a huge vase statue thing, a garden house to sit in with a croquet set, a tennis court and a small island closed off to us. Maybe the island contains the Queen's secret underground escape hatch!

It was a fun experience - getting so dressed up, seeing the women in their coordinated outfits and the men in top hats, coat and tails, eating delicious tea and treats, and seeing the Queen. If you know you'll be visiting London around this time of the year and you are Canadian, I highly recommend applying for tickets!

A close-up of the last pic so you can see my hat! Hats were mandatory for the women. I splurged and bought one for £35.