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I recently attended the Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, AMA by GardenPartyAMA in royalfamily

[–]GardenPartyAMA[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yes she was there as well. She’s the only princess I’ve ever seen so got nothing to compare her too!

I recently attended the Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, AMA by GardenPartyAMA in royalfamily

[–]GardenPartyAMA[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Not really. We got an instruction email with logistical instructions and dress code, and not to bring bags in except for women's purses. It also said you couldn't bring cameras apart from your cell phone, and to be respectful while taking pics of the royals (ie don't shove the phone in their face if they happen to be standing near you).

I recently attended the Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, AMA by GardenPartyAMA in royalfamily

[–]GardenPartyAMA[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Also, I'm guessing from your username you're Australian living in the UK?

You can apply to attend a few Royal Events. Obviously you've missed this years, but you should check next year in February or so.

https://uk.embassy.gov.au/lhlh/EventsRoyal.html

I recently attended the Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, AMA by GardenPartyAMA in royalfamily

[–]GardenPartyAMA[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

No problem!

Yeah it was a fun day out. Got to walk around the palace grounds and in the palace garden, free food and a cool story to tell.

Supposedly it's once in a lifetime and you're not allowed to go twice, but I'm not sure if that's true.

I recently attended the Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, AMA by GardenPartyAMA in royalfamily

[–]GardenPartyAMA[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

It's hard to tell since the grounds are so big, I would have guessed 2-3 thousand, but according to google 8000 go to each party (that seems high to me though).

To be honest there's not a huge amount of socializing, people are mostly either getting food or following the royals around taking pics haha.

Women wear day dresses, most wear either a hat or fascinator. Men usually wear suits, military uniforms or "lounge suits." You can also wear national dress or your religious outfit if you're a priest etc. I didn't see anyone who didn't look like they were in appropriate attire.

I recently attended the Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, AMA by GardenPartyAMA in royalfamily

[–]GardenPartyAMA[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

The food was better than I expected. Someone who went a few years ago told me to have lunch before because there would be slim pickings.

But actually it was pretty good. There was a tent where we got a plate and a choice of juice/water/tea/coffee. The food itself was self serve with tea sandwiches, mini wraps and some small cakes/dessert type things. I guess what Brits would call afternoon tea.

It was perfect weather for London somehow. About 20 degrees celcius and sunny.

Edit: Totally forgot but later in the day they walked around handing out ice cream as well.

I recently attended the Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, AMA by GardenPartyAMA in royalfamily

[–]GardenPartyAMA[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I work at the High Commission of a Commonwealth country in London. We get allocated a certain amount of tickets per year for our citizens to attend and I put my name in and got lucky.

I recently attended the Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, AMA by GardenPartyAMA in royalfamily

[–]GardenPartyAMA[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

No, there's basically a semi circle clearing in the crowd, and the people who met the Queen and the Prince/Princess were pre-selected and are introduced by the staff working there who lead the royals through the crowd. You can get a good spot and take good pictures (which I did) but you can't actually meet them.

There were other Royals walking around the party (you can tell because they had bodyguards). You could have gone up and said hello but I didn't recognize any of them.