Buckingham Palace returned
to holding garden parties on Wednesday for the first time since 2019. While the
Queen didn’t attend, she was represented by the Prince of Wales and
the Duchess of Cornwall. Princess Anne, the Duke of Kent and Prince and
Princess Michael of Kent were also in attendance.
Garden parties are one of the
ways the royal family commends people who have served their communities
and on Wednesday, 8000 special guests were in attendance, including
representatives from the Royal Shakespeare Company and Macmillan Cancer
Support.
In typical British fashion,
the heavens opened and so did guests’ umbrellas, but Prince Charles and
Camilla remained in good spirits.
The heir to the throne wore a
top hat and tails as he met attendees including military personnel,
representatives from the Turquoise Mountain charity and volunteers from the
Prince’s Trust.
Camilla also looked very smart
in a blue and white embroidered coat dress by Fiona Clare accessorized with a
hat by Philip Treacey.
 |
Princess Anne was also in attendance
Emily Brandis and Becky
Harrold, who both work as managers for The Silver Line, a helpline supporting
older people, both met the Duchess, who is the patron of the charity.
“We’re very honoured to
be invited. She was saying how good it is that the service has been there for
people, especially after the last two years,” Ms. Brandis said.
“We saw a 30 percent
increase in calls at the start of the pandemic and the numbers haven’t gone
down since.”
The party was the first of the
season, with more to be held at Buckingham Palace on May 18 and 25, while the
Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh will be the venue on June 29.
The Queen was not in
attendance due to her mobility issues, with the palace announcing
last week that she will no longer be present at garden parties.
Guests were no doubt still
delighted to attend, however, with the events having been postponed in 2020 and
2021 due to the pandemic.
