Well, I didn't exactly 'meet' her and shake her hand, but the experience was interesting anyway, especially for an American who takes somewhat of a cynical view towards the power of royalty.
My Saturday was planned out. I was to take the train from Farnborough to London Waterloo station and walk across the Westminster Bridge to visit Churchill's Bunker. I would then grab a bite to eat and find one of four theatres which I had listed and see a live play.
I walked past the Parliament building and Big Ben and eventually found my bearings. When I found the sign to the war bunkers I noticed a barricade and a bobbie blocking the route. I thought I could go around so I kept walking to see if there was another access. Realizing that walk would lead me back over the River Thames, I turned around. The crowds were getting heavier, and I heard someone say there was to be a parade of some sort. My curiosity drove me thicker into the crowd. I heard a band playing a John Philip Sousa march, then came upon grandstands packed with people, with people off in the distance straining to get a view from the park. There was a band in the British Redcoat uniforms and mounted cavalry wearing high black fuzzy hats. So I put 2 and 2 together and surmised that this was a celebration of the victory in the War over the Falkland Islands, which had an anniversary the previous week and was all over the BBC. The Falkland dispute, twenty years back, was between England and Argentina over some small islands located off the eastern coast of Argentina, home to about a thousand or so British subjects and about 100,000 sheep. Anyway, I digress now....I couldn't get close enough to see the ceremony, so I walked through the park back towards Trafalgar Square, still inching my way along. In about a half hour I was back in the Theatre district and spotted Her Majesty's Theatre, the venue for "Phantom of the Opera". I slipped inside and bought a ticket for the afternoon performance, then walked a block to St. James' pub and had lunch.
After lunch, I still had a few hours to kill before the matinee, so I thought I'd go see if there was any way I could still see the bunker, that perhaps the festivities were over and things had returned to normal.
Heading back to the mall, I saw that the band performance was over, and people were streaming out of the grandstand area and walking towards Buckingham Palace. What the heck, I've nothing but time to kill, so I joined them. There were more bobbie's, constables, men in tails and top hats than you can shake a stick at, but also normal folk, people wearing jeans and couples with baby strollers.
It was about a mile walk along the plaza to Buckingham Palace. At some point I discovered this event had nothing to do with the Falklands, but that it was in fact the Queen's Birthday. My goodness, that lady has been busy, The Diamond Jubilee had ended just the week prior, and the Queen was busy making appearances all over England to promote this or that charity, accepting flower bouquets and what not from blond little boys in blue school uniforms and little girls in braided pig tails. I digress again....
Everyone was queuing up outside the palace gates, but I found myself getting surprisingly close. I saw a purple banner folded over the second story balcony at the front of Buckingham Palace. Was the Queen actually going to make an appearance there? I started to get my answer when I heard a series of cannon shots that sounded like thunder. There were bobbie's on horses near to me and it was obvious the horses, while reacting, had become used to this and did not stampede into the crowd. Awesome, I thought.
The cannon fire lasted about five minutes. A twenty-one gun salute, I presumed, although I wasn't counting. Then came the sound of trumpets. Something royal was happening. The crowd's excitement grew. I heard a cheer arise from the crowd. They were all staring up at the balcony. I saw the door open leading out to the balcony, and out comes this little lady in a bright yellow dress and yellow hat (how many of these outfits does she have, do you presume). This was Queen Elizabeth II, ruler of the British Empire, sovereign of the British Commonwealth. Prince Philip, still looking dapper at the grand age of 91, was alongside her, dressed in a bright red jacket with medals pinned on his chest, and a blue military hat. They stood at the balcony, and were followed out shortly by Prince Charles and Camilla, then Prince William and Kate (they got the loudest cheers - extremely popular, it seems), then a half dozen more folks I couldn't identify.
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| QE II with Prince Phillip (not my photo - I didn't have the camera) |
After the crowd had settled down, there came the sound of helicopters. Four of them flew in formation over the crowd and over Buckingham Palace. They were followed by a formation of four 60's era propeller planes, the largest in the center, perhaps a B-52 bomber. After that some faster jets, in a formation of four, then the climax - fighter jets emitting red, white and blue exhaust, also flying directly over the crowd and over the queen's balcony.
The queen and the other folks waved a few more times, then retreated back inside the palace. The festivities ended, the crowd dispersed, I was thirsty, so I headed for the nearest pub for another pint of London's finest before moving on to my matinee.
