On Wednesday 27th July, 21 of us travelled to London to visit the State Room of Buckingham Palace to see the display of H.M. the Queen’s dresses and hats celebrating her 90th Birthday.
We set off at 7.15am and had a pleasant journey with drivers John and Ron (of M&S Coaches) stopping for a coffee break at Reading and arriving at the Palace around noon. There was time to get our bearings before we joined the queue for security searches prior to admission. Most of us seemed to set off the alarms and have to be further searched!! In most cases it was nothing more sinister than a wristwatch and we were soon on our way into the Palace.
We saw the courtyard and the entrance used by Prime Ministers and other world leaders and, ascending the stairs used by them, we entered the State Rooms, which are used for court ceremonies and official entertaining. These rooms were lavishly furnished and included paintings by Rembrandt and Rubens, sculptures by Chantrey and Canova, beautiful Sevres porcelain and some of the finest English and French furniture, not to mention the chandeliers! The highlight of the trip was the display of around 80 of the Queen’s dresses and 60 of her hats. These ranged from her first little black Norman Hartnell dress through to the Angela Kelly dress worn for the ‘James Bond’ moment at the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony. Her Majesty champions British designers and the influence of the fashions of each decade could be seen. Vivid colours are used where possible so that Her Majesty stands out for everyone to see, hats in matching colours and materials complete the outfits. Many dresses were specifically created for trips overseas when account has to be taken of local customs, for example the Queen wears black when visiting the Pope. The display also included some of the uniforms worn by Her Majesty for Trooping the Colour and other national events. I think everyone agreed that the 1953 Norman Hartnell designed Coronation dress was the star of the show.
The tour took around 2 hours after which we left the Palace through the Bow Room and were able to visit the café and shop before the half-mile stroll through the gardens back to the coach. Leaving London at 4pm we arrived back at Ashford at 8.30pm, a long and tiring day but everyone agreed it was worthwhile and most enjoyable. Thanks go to Sue and Ann for their hard work organising everything.
Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 14th September at Ashford where John Haydon will give us a talk on Astronomy.
R Genner