The Patron’s Lunch was the climatic end to a majestic weekend as part the Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations, which took place on Sunday 12th June 2016. I was very lucky to attend as I was chosen by the Royal Photographic Society to form part of the small group attending this event.
The Queen’s work is to support and promote public and voluntary service. The Queen does this by involving herself with the charities and this helps to recognise their achievement and the contributions they encourage to enhance the life in UK and the Commonwealth.
The Royal Patronage exist since King George II in the 18th century. Currently the Queen’s Patronage extends to 600 organisations and charities, which were inherited from her father King George VI (the majority), Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret. The patronages have 18 subdivision where the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) belongs to Science and Technology.
The Patron’s lunch was organised by the joint-presidents the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry, as the last event in the weekend celebrations of Her Majesty the Queen’s 90th birthday for the support and service given to the community on her over 63 years of reign.
The celebration started on Friday 10th of June with a thanksgiving service at St Paul’s Cathedral, followed on Saturday 11th of June with Trooping the colours and ended on Sunday 12th of June with the Patron’s lunch. The tickets were distributed the majority among the organisations and charities, and the rest in a ballot towards the general public. With this in mind getting tickets was an unrealistic goal and therefore something that I did not actively pursue.
On 29th March 2016, after Easter, an invitation email was sent to every member of the Royal Photographic Society to participate in the Patron’s lunch with eight places available. Four days later, on 2nd April a further email was sent with instructions as to how to enter the ballot to participate with a deadline of 8th April and notification on success on 11th April. This left me little time to participate, therefore I entered the ballot as per instructions and then the waiting game started.
On 11th April, as per agreement, the notification arrived and to my surprise it was granted a place to attend the Patron’s lunch. I only needed to confirm if I was attending and if any dietary restrictions. I was also informed that the ticket will be sent separate to this email and will include all the instructions to attend.
On 20th April, the ticket arrived. The instructions were to print the ticket, to locate the gate on the map and to read the restricted items list.
The ticket’s information was date as 12th June 2016, location as the Mall in London, entry time between 10.00 a.m. and midday at gate 3. Once inside it had the location of the hamper collection point, table location (Section G, table 48, seat 17), event time between 10.00 and 16.30, and I needed a photographic ID and a proof of address to enter the event (without exceptions).
Next, I read the restricted items which were: maximum size bag of 30x15cm; camera (without exchangeable lenses); no umbrellas (ponchos available), no picnic items (as this will be provided), no flags, no selfie sticks, to mention some among a huge list.
After reading all the information and made arrangements as to what I needed to take, I was ready for the lunch and only needed for the date to arrive.
On 12th June, the date arrived and I was very excited to attend. I left my house around 9.45 and my route was underground from my house to Piccadilly Circus and then walked to gate 3. As soon as I left the underground, it was raining however luckily I packed my own poncho and then I started searching for the queue. I found the queue at 11.30 and by 11.38 I found the end of the queue. Due to the rain the queue was moving very slow, however while queueing I was given a bag with the event program and various products from the sponsors like boots and PG teas.
I was in the queue for 40 minutes under the rain, which felt like forever, however, I was enjoying the free gifts and collecting as many as I can. At 12.20, I arrived to the security check where they checked my ID and proof of address with the ticket, after this I entered the bag screening. Although the bag restriction said 30×15 cm, I knew that I will be given a large hamper and I needed a waterproof bag to protect it. Therefore, I brought a foldable waterproof bag with zipper, which I unfolded as soon as I was inside passed the security checkpoint.
Once inside around 12.25, the first thing that I did was collect my hamper and after this I made my way towards my table and then I found my seat. I arrived to my seat at 12.38 and I was ready to mingle. Luckily by the time I arrived to my seat the rain had stopped and the sky was starting to open and a few sunrays were appearing.
Once on my seat, the first run of the parade was concluding and I was able to understand the transcendence of the event that I was very lucky to attend at the last minute. While waiting for the next event to start, I decided to explore the hamper and introduce myself to my seat’s neighbours. One of my neighbours came from Japan in order to attend this event. I also met the president and vice-president of the RPS.
Since nothing was happening, at around 13.13 I decided to join everyone else and started eating the content of my hamper, which had a variety of very British flavours and products. Luckily for everyone the sun shined, the ponchos disappeared and the biggest street party of England could start finally. After finishing with my hamper and to avoid this to get wet, I unfolded my very big bag and put this inside. While I was doing that, my neighbours realised the huge size of my bag and I said that I had this inside my other bag, and they smile as I was able to create a loophole for myself.
At around 13.45, a lot of people behind me started standing and since I was next to the barrier, I had the best seat of the house, I followed and once standing I realised that the members of the Royal family were talking and handshaking with the public next to the barrier. I realised that the Royals in my section were Prince Harry in the barrier in front, and in the barrier I was standing the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the future King and Queen of England. However, with the lack of DSLR cameras I had only to rely on my mobile’s camera (nice but with limited zoom) and my basic digital camera (slow but with a better zoom) at least I though, I have a backup plan just in case.
At around 14.06, I spotted Prince Harry just in front of my barrier and just had to time to hold my position so that I could get his face or at least his profile. After this I spotted the Duke was getting closer and closer. At around 14.12, I shook the Duke of Cambridge’s hand and asked me from which society I was coming and I said “Royal Photographic Society” and he said “you should speak to Catherine, she loves photography”, and the moment passed. I was more aware of talking to him than of taking his photography and when I realised this I took his photograph so close that I trunked his head on it. Although the photograph would never win an award the moment will stay with me forever.
After this moment, the Duchess of Cambridge passed just shaking hands but not speaking to everyone. However, when she was in front on the president of the society he said, “we are from the RPS” and she said “and where are your cameras, I would have expected amazing cameras from you”, and he informed her that we could not bring them due to the restrictions. However, the conversation continued for a couple of more minutes until someone told the Duchess that she was running late and the conversation concluded.
While writing this blog, I retold to my husband my anecdote and he pointed out that I might have influenced the possibility of the conversation between the Duchess of Cambridge and the president of the society, if the Duke of Cambridge had not asked me about the society. Therefore, I would like to naively think that I was part of any future relationship with the Duchess, starting with her short but constructive conversation with the president of the society.
After the short conversation between the president society and the Duchess of Cambridge, she and her party started to walk towards Trafalgar Square where a stage was set. While all the teams were rushing, I was thinking why the rush. However, at 14.35 the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were waiving while standing inside an open top Range Rover and they were moving also towards the stage and realised why the rush.
As soon as the Queen arrived to the stage the speeches started, at around 14.40. The speeches started with the speech of the joint-president the Duke of Cambridge and ended with a short speech from the Queen addressing her 90th birthday celebrations.
After the speeches ended, at around 15.00, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh boarded their Range Rover followed by Prince Harry, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in another car. All the vehicles were open top and the party was standing and waving towards the public, while they were heading towards the bigger stage set in front of the Queen Victoria statue in front of Buckingham Palace, where the remaining members of the Royal family were waiting for the parade to start.
At around 15.10, the first group of the parade made their appearance at the beginning of the Mall. The parade started with the 90th number depicting the event that we were here to celebrate, which was the 90th birthday of the Queen. The parade has many organisations representatives and I was able to identify a few marching bands and the scout organisation, as I am a former scout.
The event was programmed to end at 16.30, however I left around 16.00 to avoid the public transport congestion. I was able to pack everything that I got as free samples and the entire hamper in the foldable bag that I brought. I made my way home the same way I arrived via Piccadilly Circus. Once at home, I was able to see all the items that I had with detail and decided which ones to keep and which ones to sell on eBay.
On 19th July, I was gladly surprise when I received and email from the RPS which contained a file which summarised the accomplishments of the Patron’s lunch and everything that took for the realisation of the event. After receiving this, I was able to understand the extent of the event that I was very lucky to attend.
The Patron’s lunch was the biggest street party in Britain on that day as it was attended by 10,000 guests from more than 600 organisations whom each enjoyed a delicious M&S hamper. The hampers had 40,000 sandwiches from 20,000 slices of bread, and 10,000 bottles of apple juice made from 25,000 Windsor apples. During the event 33,000 of PG cups of tea and 5,000 jugs of Pimm’s were served with the help of 180 celebration makers. The mall was decorated with 5,000 meters of bunting. The parade was formed by 1,600 volunteers and this event was covered by 19 BBC cameras.
During August 2016, I witnessed many outcomes due to this event. I was contacted by Hiroshi Akitagawa from the Japanese RPS branch and he extended an invitation to attend his centre next time I go to Japan, which hopefully will be sometime soon. In the August edition of The Journal, the RPS main magazine, there was an article about the Patron’s party depicting our interaction with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and even mention that one of the attendees was from Mexico (me).
During January 2017, inside the new The Journal magazine surprisingly was an article about the Duchess of Cambridge accepting a lifetime honorary membership to the Royal Photographic Society due to her keen interest in photography and history. I would venture to say that everything started on the Patron’s lunch and took the rest of the year to finalise.
The Duchess has taken official portraits of her children Prince George and Princess Charlotte making of her an official royal photographer who becomes a member of the society. This edition of the magazine also has some of the photographs she has taken of her children, making of this an amazing issue and the beginning of a beautiful relationship between the future Queen and this organization.
I was very lucky to have been invited to attend this amazing event and how this event has had long lasting memories for me. This has also has infused my enthusiasm and hopefully a better understanding of everything Royal, British and European. I can now say that I have shaken hands with the future King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, even though it may take many years for this to happen.
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