A bit of royal pomping...

'A bit of royal pomping' was how my daughter described Garter Day!

All the frantic camera clicking resulted in an epic fail on my part. I had taken my smaller Panasonic Lumix as it has a much longer telephoto lens than I have for my Nikon. But our position was a bit tricky, peering through a metal fence and with several other people's elbows and shoulders in front, and I had not taken into account the long shutter delay on my camera. People around did better with their iPhones..

In fact, I barely saw the Queen herself. She's tiny! The photo below comes courtesy of a lovely lady from Giggleswick, Sarah Williamson, who very kindly emailed it to me and agreed that I could show it here.

HM The Queen and HRH Prince William, The Duke of Cambridge
in the Garter Procession
(Photo © Sarah Williamson)

HRH Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, in a hurry to join the gathering.

The Duke of Cambridge in the returning carriage procession.
Sitting opposite him is Sophie, Countess of Wessex.

HM The Queen, with the Duchess of Cornwall and HRH Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales.

These, and a few more photos, are also on my other blog, Seeking the Quiet Eye.

The Yeomen of the Guard

I had an unexpected birthday treat from my daughter. She managed to get tickets in the ballot to attend the Garter Day ceremony at Windsor Castle.

The Most Noble Order of the Garter is the oldest British Order of Chivalry, founded by King Edward III in 1348. It consists of the Sovereign and twenty-five Knights, chosen personally by the Sovereign, who are people who have held public office, have contributed to public life or have served the Queen personally.

Every June they gather at Windsor Castle. Any new Knights take the oath and are invested with the insignia. (There was one this year, Air Chief Marshal The Lord Stirrup, who I think took the late Margaret Thatcher's place in the Order.)  They have lunch together in the State Apartments and then process down through the castle grounds to St George's Chapel for a service of dedication. Afterwards they are driven back up through the Castle in a carriage procession.

It is British ceremonial at its best - lots of troops and marching bands, beautiful horses, robes and uniforms, ancient traditions and lots of Royals, both major and minor.

We were allotted a position right up at the top of the Castle, on the edge of the Upper Ward beside the Round Tower, from where we could see all the comings and goings, and the start and end of the processionals. (If we'd been further down we might have seen the procession for longer as it wound its way down, but wherever you were placed you gained in some ways and lost in others.) As it was, there was a lot of good-natured waiting around (picnicking!) and a few moments of frantic camera clicking. But it was all very interesting and, since I love all the pomp and tradition, it was a great day out.

The gentlemen in my photo are members of The Queen's Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard, who formed part of the procession, seen marching through the arched entrance to the State Apartments.

Windsor Castle from the Air.
(Mark S Jobling, reproduced under Creative Commons license) 

Diamond girls

The Queen and I have little in common except a name - Elizabeth - and a diamond celebration this year. A lot of little girls born in 1952 were called Elizabeth, I think.  (It's my second name.)  I was almost a year old on Coronation Day (2 June 1953) and, judging by the photo, I had more of a capacity then to get into flag-waving mood than I do now!  I am trying... wearing blue jeans, a white T-shirt and a red jacket today, and I spent yesterday afternoon watching the Jubilee Pageant on the Thames in London, on TV.  Such a pity about the Great British weather, for everyone involved.  I would have felt a lot happier had the Queen sat down on her 'throne' on the barge, allowed someone to tuck her up in a blanket and wrapped her hands round a mug of hot tea, while she watched it all.  As it was, she stood and looked chilled the whole time, remarkable for a lady of 86 but, I felt, rather above and beyond the call of duty.  But then, she's made of sterner stuff than I... It was so cold and wet here in Yorkshire that I'm ashamed to say I had the gas fire on!

Come and join the celebration!

Saltaire put a bit of bunting out to celebrate the wedding of HRH Prince William and Catherine Middleton on Friday.  It was all rather low-key locally ... a lot of us Brits are fairly reserved about that kind of thing and, as far as I know, there were no street parties in the immediate area.  I sense that there has been as much excitement in Australia, Canada and even in the States.  I know of some American ladies who travelled to London, not to attend the wedding on the processional route but to watch it on our TV channels!  I love a big occasion though, and watched the whole thing on BBC TV with some friends - pink lemonade and all. (Pre-lunch seemed a bit too early for champagne!)  I thought it was all really brilliant.  I enjoy the ceremonial: the guards and the horses, the bands and the carriages, all the colour and ceremony.  I like the sense of history unfolding and the layers of symbolism, the links with the past but also in this wedding a real sense of optimism for the future. William and Kate both looked stunning and the marriage service in Westminster Abbey was beautiful. (I was particularly moved by Kate's brother James's masterly reading from St Paul's Letter to the Romans.)  They seem a lovely young couple and I do sincerely hope theirs will be a long and deeply happy marriage.  May God bless them both.

Pictures from BBC TV

PS: Possibly the cutest and most amusing of the photos I've seen of the wedding is this one.