A Distraction

I've been more or less incommunicado this last week as myself, my wife our eldest son and her eldest brother attended my wife's investiture at Buckingham Palace on Friday (1st Feb)

My wife was awarded an M.B.E. in last year and in the autumn she received her certificate, but it wasn't until this year that she actually received the gong itself (presented to her by HRH Charles) and then the reality of it all set in.

Her award was for her work in the community where we live, at the local community centre (a charity), in childcare, and a whole host of other things.

There have been many times that I've felt very proud of the milestones in my life, my wedding day, the births or our children, the marriages of our children etc. and this has to be right there at the top of the list. Maybe, just maybe, the births of my grandchildren this year will top even this, but that remains to be seen.

There were very few photo opportunities that may be of interest to many of us hobby-wise (I'm certain I didn't see any cockneys fighting zombies), but this guardsman was on duty outside the palace when we arrived at about 10 am in the rain.

When we exited the palace in the afternoon the guardsman I saw on  duty then was in a bearskin but still wore his greatcoat.

In attendance at inside the palace were  members of the household cavalry, both the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals were on guard duty, but as photography was strictly forbidden inside the palace and you tend not to argue the point with big guys with swords drawn, I've borrowed the photograph.

At the ceremony itself  other than the military recipients of various awards HRH Charles was attended by two Ghurkas in their dress uniforms and chests full of medals (very impressive), which is a throwback to the reign of Queen Victoria. There were many other flunkies of course attending to the needs of the Prince, but there also five Yeomen of the Guard, presumably a tradition that's been around since Henry VIII's time. These chaps were kind enough to stay around after the investiture to enable photographs to be taken.

 

They are all wearing royal livery, the sergeant in the centre carries a cane with which he gave commands with a single tap on the floor. The four "rank and file" Yeomen carried very lethal-looking partisans whilst in the palace but had stored them by the time we exited, probably for safety reasons as they're more than likely razor sharp and still very useable.
The Yeomen departed in style from the inner courtyard of the palace in a carriage that we had actually followed into the palace in the morning although the back cover was down (due to the inclement weather probably), so we didn't know if they were inside then or not.

So, our five day marathon of travel (about 400 miles there and back) has now finally ended and it seems likes a lifetime ago.  We were in London less than 24 hours and now I'm now going to attempt to catch up on all the blogs I try to follow and have missed.

Next week it'll be back to normal and I hope to have finished something I've been working on for a good while to showcase.

In the meantime it just remains for me to say, "Many thanks for looking", "Welcome to my latest follower Louis Britton" and as always comments are both welcomed and appreciated.