The Royal Garden Party Season is fast approaching, and as I have attended two such events, I wonder if anyone would like a bit of background information?
Usually, each year the Queen holds 3 Garden Parties at Buckingham Palace and one in Scotland at the Palace of Holyroodhouse. However, she occasionally hosts an extra party if there is a particular occasion to commemorate: for example, an extra party was held in 1997, the year of the Queen’s golden wedding, when she entertained other couples who were also celebrating 50 years of marriage. Alternatively, the Queen may host an extra Garden Party if an organisation with which she is connected is celebrating a particular anniversary.
Buckingham Palace Garden Parties are hosted by the Queen on Tuesdays / Thursdays in July. They are held in the Gardens at Buckingham Palace, and in June, the longest tent that you can imagine is erected down one side of the garden. This is in fact the ‘general’ tea tent, which houses long tables on which the self-service tea is laid out. Two smaller tents are also erected: the Diplomatic Tent, for Guests from the Diplomatic Service and also the Royal Tea Tent [complete with a crown on top and very well guarded!] No surprises who eats there – it is for the Queen and Prince Philip and those other members of the BRF who are on ‘Garden Party Duty’. At each party, there will be around 9,000 guests!
So far as invitations go, the form is different for her British subjects and guests from overseas. Dealing first with British Guests, you cannot apply to attend, as the rule is that you have to be invited! ‘Invitations’ are sent out each year to people who have done something meritorious. BP gets to hear of such endeavours because nominations are made by Lord Lieutenants of the various counties, charities and other nationally important organizations, the Armed Forces, the Civil Service etc. You will have noticed that I put quotation marks round ‘Invitations’; this is because the ‘invitation’ is actually a command issued by the Lord Chamberlin. This command is actually issued on very stiff card, and a team of ladies working in Buckingham Palace [and known at the Garden Party team or the Garden Party Ladies] handwrite each ‘Command’. The Commands are sent out in May each year, although in practice you will probably have been informed as early as March that your name is being submitted by the particular charity / Lord Lieutenant etc concerned. The rules are different if you are from Overseas! Foreign Nationals can apply to their country’s London Ambassador/ High Commissioner to be included on the Embassy / High Commission Invitation List. Places are highly sought-after though, and it is likely that your own Embassy/High Commission list will be oversubscribed.
Although the general rule is that people can only attend a party ONCE in their lifetimes, in practice it is possible to attend more frequently. Diplomats and Embassy staff may well attend from year to year. Your humble Diarist also managed two visits: the first of these – when I attended with my parents - was because of a practice that has now been discontinued: up until several years ago, Guests were also permitted to bring their unmarried daughters under the age of 25. This was a throwback to the days of the Debutante; although presentation parties had long since ceased [they ended in 1958] the practice of being able to take your unmarried daughters continued for several decades afterwards. And please note that the practice was limited to unmarried daughters: tough if you an unmarried son! Which was pretty hard luck on my brothers! My second visit was actually made in my own right. And now that the ‘unmarried daughter’ rule has ended, anyone now invited to a Garden Party can take their spouse / partner or just a friend.
With the invitation comes details of everything you need to know, including dress rules. [Male] Guests are requested to wear either Morning Dress, Service Uniform, Lounge Suit or National Dress; Ladies generally wear their interpretation of formal attire. Hats are not compulsory, but so far as I could see, practically everyone wore them. I saw no trouser suits. Cameras are forbidden. You are also requested to take a passport and another form of identification.
BP Garden Parties take place from 4pm to 6pm, although people are admitted from 3pm. There is a very large queue of people outside BP from about 2pm though. If you intend to drive, you can usually park your car in the Mall; a special sticker is included, which you place in your windscreen. This MIGHT make you feel important, but believe you me, once you get within about 5 miles of Central London on a Garden Party day, practically every car seems to be displaying such a sticker!
As you join the HUGE queue outside BP, your ID will be checked by one of the numerous police officers on duty. And you don’t present your Command; you will actually have been issued with Admission Cards. And when I went with my parents I was lucky; we did not have to join the main queue, because we were allowed to enter by the Entree gate, well to the left of the main queue. This was because some years previously, my family had been ‘given the Entree’ [as it was known], which was a lifelong honour. When I went in my own right, I just had to queue!
When you are part of the main queue, you walk across the forecourt in front of BP, enter the building, exit through the interior courtyard that lies behind the front facade of the BP and up the front steps again and exit the doors down onto the terrace and finally down the steps and into the garden. There are two military bands playing and the Yeoman of The Guard in their scarlet and gold uniforms are on duty. Guests often erroneously refer to these gentlemen as ‘Beefeaters’, because their uniform is superficially the same. However, as members of TRF will know, this is entirely incorrect. The ‘Beefeaters’ are wardens, the Yeomen are Her Majesty’s guards.
Once into the gardens, you can either admire the borders and the lake etc OR you can make a beeline for the tea tent! The queues for refreshments are enormous. Contrary to what people believe, the catering for the ordinary guests is NOT done by BP, but by an outside caterer. The crockery and knives and spoons etc are also the property of the caterers, not BP. Once in the Tea Tent, you are given a clever rectangular ‘all in one’ plate with a recess for your tea cup. Garden Party fare consists of very small crust-less sandwiches, mini éclairs, teeny tiny slices of Victoria sponge cakes, and little chocolate ganache cakes, with darling little crowns on top! It is bad form to take too much food, and indeed the size of the plate prevents this (but I did see that some people were pretty ‘clever’ about stacking their plates very well] although people often go back for second helpings. Alcohol is NOT served; instead there is tea [a special ‘garden party’ blend, iced tea and lemonade. Catering staff help serve the refreshments, but really it is a ‘help yourself’ buffet! Tables and Chairs are set up over part of the lawn. If ‘nature’ calls, very superior portable loos are the order of the day.
Usually, each year the Queen holds 3 Garden Parties at Buckingham Palace and one in Scotland at the Palace of Holyroodhouse. However, she occasionally hosts an extra party if there is a particular occasion to commemorate: for example, an extra party was held in 1997, the year of the Queen’s golden wedding, when she entertained other couples who were also celebrating 50 years of marriage. Alternatively, the Queen may host an extra Garden Party if an organisation with which she is connected is celebrating a particular anniversary.
Buckingham Palace Garden Parties are hosted by the Queen on Tuesdays / Thursdays in July. They are held in the Gardens at Buckingham Palace, and in June, the longest tent that you can imagine is erected down one side of the garden. This is in fact the ‘general’ tea tent, which houses long tables on which the self-service tea is laid out. Two smaller tents are also erected: the Diplomatic Tent, for Guests from the Diplomatic Service and also the Royal Tea Tent [complete with a crown on top and very well guarded!] No surprises who eats there – it is for the Queen and Prince Philip and those other members of the BRF who are on ‘Garden Party Duty’. At each party, there will be around 9,000 guests!
So far as invitations go, the form is different for her British subjects and guests from overseas. Dealing first with British Guests, you cannot apply to attend, as the rule is that you have to be invited! ‘Invitations’ are sent out each year to people who have done something meritorious. BP gets to hear of such endeavours because nominations are made by Lord Lieutenants of the various counties, charities and other nationally important organizations, the Armed Forces, the Civil Service etc. You will have noticed that I put quotation marks round ‘Invitations’; this is because the ‘invitation’ is actually a command issued by the Lord Chamberlin. This command is actually issued on very stiff card, and a team of ladies working in Buckingham Palace [and known at the Garden Party team or the Garden Party Ladies] handwrite each ‘Command’. The Commands are sent out in May each year, although in practice you will probably have been informed as early as March that your name is being submitted by the particular charity / Lord Lieutenant etc concerned. The rules are different if you are from Overseas! Foreign Nationals can apply to their country’s London Ambassador/ High Commissioner to be included on the Embassy / High Commission Invitation List. Places are highly sought-after though, and it is likely that your own Embassy/High Commission list will be oversubscribed.
Although the general rule is that people can only attend a party ONCE in their lifetimes, in practice it is possible to attend more frequently. Diplomats and Embassy staff may well attend from year to year. Your humble Diarist also managed two visits: the first of these – when I attended with my parents - was because of a practice that has now been discontinued: up until several years ago, Guests were also permitted to bring their unmarried daughters under the age of 25. This was a throwback to the days of the Debutante; although presentation parties had long since ceased [they ended in 1958] the practice of being able to take your unmarried daughters continued for several decades afterwards. And please note that the practice was limited to unmarried daughters: tough if you an unmarried son! Which was pretty hard luck on my brothers! My second visit was actually made in my own right. And now that the ‘unmarried daughter’ rule has ended, anyone now invited to a Garden Party can take their spouse / partner or just a friend.
With the invitation comes details of everything you need to know, including dress rules. [Male] Guests are requested to wear either Morning Dress, Service Uniform, Lounge Suit or National Dress; Ladies generally wear their interpretation of formal attire. Hats are not compulsory, but so far as I could see, practically everyone wore them. I saw no trouser suits. Cameras are forbidden. You are also requested to take a passport and another form of identification.
BP Garden Parties take place from 4pm to 6pm, although people are admitted from 3pm. There is a very large queue of people outside BP from about 2pm though. If you intend to drive, you can usually park your car in the Mall; a special sticker is included, which you place in your windscreen. This MIGHT make you feel important, but believe you me, once you get within about 5 miles of Central London on a Garden Party day, practically every car seems to be displaying such a sticker!
As you join the HUGE queue outside BP, your ID will be checked by one of the numerous police officers on duty. And you don’t present your Command; you will actually have been issued with Admission Cards. And when I went with my parents I was lucky; we did not have to join the main queue, because we were allowed to enter by the Entree gate, well to the left of the main queue. This was because some years previously, my family had been ‘given the Entree’ [as it was known], which was a lifelong honour. When I went in my own right, I just had to queue!
When you are part of the main queue, you walk across the forecourt in front of BP, enter the building, exit through the interior courtyard that lies behind the front facade of the BP and up the front steps again and exit the doors down onto the terrace and finally down the steps and into the garden. There are two military bands playing and the Yeoman of The Guard in their scarlet and gold uniforms are on duty. Guests often erroneously refer to these gentlemen as ‘Beefeaters’, because their uniform is superficially the same. However, as members of TRF will know, this is entirely incorrect. The ‘Beefeaters’ are wardens, the Yeomen are Her Majesty’s guards.
Once into the gardens, you can either admire the borders and the lake etc OR you can make a beeline for the tea tent! The queues for refreshments are enormous. Contrary to what people believe, the catering for the ordinary guests is NOT done by BP, but by an outside caterer. The crockery and knives and spoons etc are also the property of the caterers, not BP. Once in the Tea Tent, you are given a clever rectangular ‘all in one’ plate with a recess for your tea cup. Garden Party fare consists of very small crust-less sandwiches, mini éclairs, teeny tiny slices of Victoria sponge cakes, and little chocolate ganache cakes, with darling little crowns on top! It is bad form to take too much food, and indeed the size of the plate prevents this (but I did see that some people were pretty ‘clever’ about stacking their plates very well] although people often go back for second helpings. Alcohol is NOT served; instead there is tea [a special ‘garden party’ blend, iced tea and lemonade. Catering staff help serve the refreshments, but really it is a ‘help yourself’ buffet! Tables and Chairs are set up over part of the lawn. If ‘nature’ calls, very superior portable loos are the order of the day.
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