I had completely forgotten that I had applied for tickets to go to one of the Palace parties.  Even when my Mum called me to tell me that I had received an invitation to The Prom At The Palace, I had to ask her what she was talking about.

As part of the celebrations of 50 years since the Queen's Accession to the throne, there were going to be two concerts held in the grounds of Buckingham Palace.  The first one would be a classical concert and the second would be a pop concert.  UK residents were invited to apply for tickets of which 12,000 lucky people would be chosen at random to attend each concert.  As it turned out I was doubly lucky as I had applied for 2 tickets in Kevin's name as well as 2 tickets in my name and 4 days after I had found out about my lucky gift Kevin received 2 tickets also for the same concert.   Unfortunately, we couldn't use them as the applicant had to be present at the concert.

I had just booked my return flight to Chicago as well.  I had thought of staying longer in England to take in the Jubilee celebrations but nobody really seemed to be doing any celebrating.  So I booked my flight for May 28th and now I had to change it as the concert was on June 1st.  Kevin of course wouldn't be able to come so I rang Vickie, my best friend who lives in London, to see if she wanted to go.  But amazingly she had also got 2 tickets to the same concert!  So the extra ticket went to Vickie's sister, Emma.  Fortunately Vickie lives at the end of the Central Line of the London Underground so we were conveniently located.

I went down to London 2 days before the concert.  I hadn't been sightseeing in London since I was a teenager - the shops had been the main attractions for the last few years - so I wanted to do some tourist stuff.

A sudden change of plan, due to a broken down car, meant I had to get the train.   Something else I hadn't done for a long time.  But the journey was surprisingly pleasant and stress free.

I spent the next day on an open top bus visiting the main sites in London.  I went to St.Paul's, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge and Westminster Abbey.  I didn't actually go into these places but I did visit the souvenir shops! 

I did try and visit the National Portrait Gallery but  I'm not very good at museums and art galleries.   I do try.  In fact I was quite excited to be visiting the Tate Modern which had just opened when I last visited Vickie.  But I lasted about 10 minutes and had to go to the cafe and wait for Vickie and Kevin.  I just couldn't see how a 10 foot high red painted canvas with a white stripe represented the miracle of child birth.   I did manage to stay long enough to witness a major marital bust-up though.  A young couple, suitably addressed in football shirts and bermuda shorts, entered the room where numerous photographs of a white man with lots of curly hair were being displayed.  The woman immediately declared in her best cockney accent that "Oh look.....it's Leo Sayer!"

"No its not!" retorted her other 'alf.

"Yes it is. I swear its Leo Sayer!" she insisted.

"No its not!" he insisted.......and this went on for several minutes!

So I left them and Vickie and Kevin to it and went to do something less boring instead.

Oh, and by the way......it wasn't!

So here I was again at the door of an art gallery. I chose one that might interest me for more than one exhibit.  I mean I've been to The Louvre in Paris and the Mona Lisa and the Boy David were worth seeing and the ceiling of The Sistine Chapel in the Vatican Museum was one of the most stunning and breathtaking sites I have ever witnessed. But there are also lots of boring things in those places too.  So I thought I would be more interested in the National Portrait Gallery as I would probably know a lot of the subjects on display and wouldn't have to decipher what I  was really looking at. 

I wandered past about a dozen portraits of people I'd never heard of and walked out again. Fortunately the new ruling which makes all museums in England free to enter applies to art galleries too! Maybe I'll try again next year!

Anyway, back to the reason I was in London.  The Queen's Golden Jubilee Prom at The Palace.

We couldn't have asked for a better day. The sun was shining and it was warm.   There wasn't a cloud in the sky.  Extremely unusual British weather.  We all met at Green Park tube station and walked towards the Palace.  Lots of people were already gathering in Green Park as one of many big TV screens around London had been erected there.  We saw the start of the queue at Buckingham Palace but had to walk all the way down Constitution Hill to Hyde Park Corner to join the end of the queue.   But the queue was moving fast and within 10 minutes we were in Buckingham Palace forecourt going through the security tent.  A few quick photos in front of the Palace and a smug wave to the minions who were on the other side of the gates and we walked through the archway to the courtyard.  In here were several Waitrose lorries and market stall type tables where hundreds of waiters/waitresses were handing out vegetarian or non-vegetarian personal souvenir cool bags.  Once we had picked up our 'booty' we walked through the Palace and out into the gardens.  Of course, I had been this far before (gloat, gloat!).  In fact I had been right up into the Investiture Room when my Dad got his MBE, but I had not been into the gardens.  It was a bit difficult to see the scale and beauty of the gardens as the stage, seating area for the concert and of course the most important fixtures at an English Fête, beer tents, took up most of the space.  The guests took up all the lawn space as everyone found a patch of grass on which to relax and eat the contents of the cool bag.   Inside the dark blue cool bag imprinted with 'The Queen's Golden Jubilee' in gold was a half bottle of Lanson champagne, Waitrose salmon roulade and chicken pasta salad, strawberries and cream, Walkers shortbread, Dairy Milk miniatures, Duchy's oatcakes and 2 vouchers for 2 pints of beer at the refreshment tent.  You could also could get tea and coffee and there were iced bins of bottled water littered around the grounds.

I immediately went for a look around and checked out the stage, the Royal Box and where we were going to be seated.  Of course I checked out the loos which were several very upmarket Portakabins!

There was entertainment happening all the time.  There were 2 smaller stages where several acts were performing and lots of Covent Garden style street performers were making their way through the crowds.  Action at the main stage started at 6:30 p.m. although the main concert didn't start until 8 p.m. when the Queen arrived.

The atmosphere was fantastic.  Everybody was happy and very friendly and looking forward to having a good time.  We met lots of people especially whilst standing in the queue for the toilet. We were there quite a long time!

We took our seats and eagerly awaited the arrival of the Queen.  I was sat next to an old lady from the North East who had come along with her Granddaughter. The Granddaughter was very excited as she had seen Will Young, the Winner of Britain's Pop Idol competition. She was even more excited when she realised he was sat about 5 rows behind us. I leant her my pen so that she could go and get his autograph. Bless her!

"WILL YOUNG USED MY PEN!!!! I'M NEVER GOING TO WASH IT!!!!"

Everybody was waiting anxiously for the arrival of the Queen.  She was all that people wanted to see. The concert was just a bonus. This was so refreshing to see and I felt so proud at that moment to be British.

Eventually she arrived along with Charles, Edward, Sophie, Anne and of course Phil.   The whole place erupted into cheers and waving flags. It was a site to bring tears to the eyes!

And then the concert began.  Emma and I were near the back next to the Royal box, so the stage just looked like a speck in the distance but the 2 giant screens beside the stage allowed us to see everything that was happening. Parky was the host and I must say looked incredibly dashing in his white dinner jacket and dicky bow.

The concert was superb. It was just the right mix of classical music, ballet, opera and most of the pieces played were popular pieces which most people i.e. ME, had heard of.  And of course the finale was the ever popular Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March more commonly known as 'Land of Hope and Glory'. It was at this point that I donned my Union Jack flag 'deely boppers' and waved my flags furiously.  We just didn't want to go home and could have sung this fiercely patriotic song all night.  But the Queen had to go and so we all sadly followed.

We headed out of the gates at about 11 p.m. full of pride and satisfaction and still waving the flag all the way home on the tube.

Get a visual taste of this spectacle by clicking here.

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Copyright© Gillian Blakey 2002                                                           Allow myself to introduce.........myself