mEMYries: June 4th

MOST EXCITING DAY EVER!!!! ALLISON AND I SAW KATE!!!!

If you don't know that I'm really into the Duchess of Cambridge you obviously don't know me that well! Allison planned her trip so that we could go see her at the service of the 60th anniversary of the Queen's coronation! When we got to Westminster Abbey there were tons of people but we elbowed our way to the front and were pretty close to the barricades. Didn't love being squished between people but it was definitely worth it! Here are a few shots of royals arriving for the service...

Allison and I in the crowd

Eugenie, Beatrice, and their Dad Andrew (Duke of York)

KATE!

The Queen is in the building

After all the royals went in for the service all the non-serious people left so we got right up to the barricade!!!! There were still a lot of people but we made friends with this lovely elderly lady and she made sure we made it to the front with her. The service was only about 45 minutes so we didn't have to wait long to see them leave too! Allison took shots of the crowds but unfortunately I don't have those right now, I'll have to add them to the blog when I get them.

You can see the crowds in the bus, if you look closely
you'll see me!

The Queen

They stood outside waiting for their cars forever!

You can see 6 of the Queen's grandchildren and 2 of their
spouses in this photo

I'm pretty sure she was looking at me!

My dad and I sat next to him on a plane, NBD

I thought it was hilarious that William and Kate left first in a nice car, then Harry, then Eugenie, Beatrice, and Louise (the young daughter of Edward, the Queen's fourth child) in a nice car and finally the last four got a van! They are last in line of all of the grandchildren because their mother is behind her three brothers in the line of succession and therefor all of her nieces and nephews too. Her children, Peter and Zara are 11th and 12th in the line of succession (Peter is the oldest Grandchild and has two children) and don't have titles because royal titles follow your father (i.e. Beatrice and Eugenie are the Princesses of York because their father is the Duke of York) and when Anne (Princess Royal) married Mark Phillips (has no title) they chose not to give him one. So none of them or their spouses (Autumn and Mike) are stylized HRH, his/her royal highness and apparently they don't get to ride away in a nice car. Didn't know you'd get a royal lesson did you!?!

You can see Zara on the left sitting next to Autumn and Peter

After standing outside Westminster Abbey for a few hours we walked to Kensington Palace which is NOT close! We hadn't eaten anything that day, Allison wore shoes that were not made for walking BUT we made it! We both wanted to have a traditional tea and went to the Orangery outside of Kensington Palace, a place Princess Diana used to go for tea.

On the walk we saw tons of Madeline's!

Tea was ok, unfortunately the service wasn't great which was weird because it was a lovely place (again Allison has great pictures but I don't have those yet). One of the waiters was new a dropped a few dishes including a tea cup right at Allison's feet, don't worry she survived. The food was delicious and the tea was great as well so all was not lost.

The Orangery

After tea we walked over to Kensington Palace to walk around. They had three exhibits and our favorite was on Victoria. Victoria was born and raised at Kensington Palace and you may have heard of the Kensington Rules (a set of strict rules her mother came up with to supposedly keep her safe for example the two of them slept in the same room until she was 18 and also Queen!) that was named for Kensington Palace. Several other royals have lived there, most recently, Princess Margaret (the Queen's sister), Princess Diana (lived their until her death), and now it's Will and Kate's home while they are in London. Here are a few of my favorite things from the Victoria exhibit.