Trooping the colour

I am such a monarchist that I watch anything I can on television and as I had to clean my neglected house I watched Trooping the Colour, in between the cleaning.  Can't wait for the fly past because as you know from my Duxford visit I love planes and especially the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

Many, many years ago a friend said would I like to go to a rehearsal of Trooping the Colour and of course I accepted.  At the time we were living in Gloucestershire so we caught a train at the crack of dawn, telling our husbands to expect us when they saw us!!  We met the young man who had the tickets, watched The Colonel's Review rehearsal and decided to visit St Pauls Cathedral on our way to the Tower of London.  Outside St Pauls we found a £5 note and decided that the streets of London were indeed paved with gold!!!

We then went on to the Tower because the father of the young man who got us our tickets was a Yeoman Warder who lived in one of the round towers in the outer walls.  We were shown round the Tower and went in the Jewel House, without having to stand in line, joined the Yeoman Warders in their private bar and were very privileged to be allowed to watch the Ceremony of the Keys from a private viewing area.  By this time it was late and we had a train to catch so we managed to get a taxi, leapt in and I said "Paddington Station as fast as you can!!".  We missed the train because the American President at the time, who I think was Ronald Reagan, was visiting and we had to wait for his cavalcade to pass down Park Lane after a dinner he had been to, so I didn't get home until about 3.00am in the morning, but it was a great day out.

However a few years later my husband and I did get tickets to see the actual ceremony of Trooping the Colour and I loved it all.  We walked down the Mall afterwards, saw all the Royal Family and watched the fly past.  What I remember vividly was the smell after the Red Arrows had flown over and I now know it was diesel from their smoke.  We applauded - how stupid is that!!

The next time I saw a full display by the Red Arrows was when my eldest son graduated, from RMCS Shivenham, now Cranfield University, which is quite close to the M4. We wondered what the traffic on the motorway had made of it and if there were any accidents as the display went over their heads!!