Jubilee on Down the River

Early this morning, I slipped out of the house and down to the river just a block away to the Cadogan Pier, where overnight the royal barge that would carry the queen and her family had magically appeared. Gloomy and rainy, there was not much promise of seeing the Jubilee flotilla without umbrellas, but stranger things have happened in this city of unpredictable weather.

The police van stationed itself outside our front door, and policemen started checking the undersides of cars for security reasons--I knew this was not an ordinary day.

As I prowled around, I found others who were ready to celebrate

and who were hoping to lower those "brollies" for a better view.

The crowds began to gather along the Chelsea Embankment, and I staked our claim along the river, and soon was joined by friends. The rains paused and we held our breaths, playing games and eating snacks for 3 hours until the parade began.

The balconies behind us were full of party goers, and this group had a "special" guest!

Everyone was holding their breath that the rain had really stopped.

And then with great fanfare and bells, the Jubilee Flotilla began, commencing with the arrival of Gloriana, rowed by 18 oars, both men and women rowing. Built in just 18 weeks, it is a cross between a gondola and Viking longboat, 

and has been donated to the queen to be a lasting legacy of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

Then rowing boats from every country of the British Commonwealth,

and others full of color (could this be rowers from the Red Hat Society?)

A special tribute with all oars up to the Queen who was soon to follow.

The Royal Squadron came in one by one, led by Princess Anne in uniform on the Trinity House No. 1 Boat followed by

the magnificent Royal Barge carrying the Queen, Prince Phillip, William, Kate, and Harry.

Transformed from a luxury travel barge to a splendid Royal Barge

for the occasion, it was beautifully decked out with flowers from the queen's palaces.

Still no rain, dare we say it, and next comes the Havengore, which once carried the body of Sir Winston Churchill to his funeral, but for this happy occasion transported the Duke of York, Edward, and his two daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. Keeping them company was the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and other members of the royal family.

Boats with bands, symphonies, choirs and bagpipes entertained us all through the afternoon.

Boats of all shapes,

sizes,

and colors floated by,

including this one which turned out to be one of our favorites. Reminded us a little bit of Mardi Gras or the Rose Bowl Parade. SO fun!

And up to the minute that we walked back to the house for refreshments, the rain stayed away. Our luck was in being at the beginning of the flotilla, because as you have probably seen on the news coverage, it poured through the last hours of the parade.

What a classy lady you are Queen Elizabeth--we are enjoying celebrating you, Your Majesty, and amazing at your legacy of 60 years. Reign on, but please not Rain on because we have more celebrations for yet 2 days to come.

A Right Royal Knees Up

You might have heard by now that England is about to have a party this upcoming weekend! Yes, we are going to have a "right royal knees up" to celebrate "our" queen's Diamond Jubilee with several days of events and two holidays. Queen Elizabeth II is only the second monarch to reach the milestone of reigning 60 years, the first having been Queen Victoria, so it's a huge accomplishment for her and definitely worthy of a party.

I give you a heads-up: this is a photo heavy blog, but if you only began to know how many things I cut out, you would thank me! Let me show you just a small, small taste of the "souvenirs" that are in the stores now, ready to become collectibles down the road.

We start with china and pottery.

Here is the official Royal Jubilee designed ware, but there are scores of others out there.

You could buy a different cup and a plate to use for every day of the month, should you care to celebrate all month long.

Emma Bridgewater has done a whole line you can see by clicking here,

as well as Cath Kidston whose collection can be found here.

Fortnum and Mason has an extensive line, including teapots,

Jubilee Majestic Marmalade with diamond shaped pieces of orange peel sprinkled with gold leaf throughout,

specially blended tea,

and coffee,

as well as a musical biscuit tin that plays "God Save the Queen." The queen was quite taken with this item when she visited the store in the spring, and so was I, so two tins came home with me.

You might prefer this tall tin of pistachio clotted cream biscuits,

or fudge for a gift for you or someone special.

Paper goods are everywhere, including these cupcake thrones,

royal crowns for all the participants,

"Right Royal Trivia" games,

and even pinatas,

or Jubilee crackers.

You can easily satisfy your sweet tooth with special biscuits/cookies,

in characters,

or party style, or

you might decide to entertain with this teapot cake.

Harrod's 2012 annual bear is in the spirit, but he is currently sold out according to their website,

so maybe a waving queen would strike your fancy instead,

or some "keepsake" pillows,

tins of mints,

or one of the ubiquitous tea towels found in every store. 

I think the temporary tattoos might be fun for the party, and I kept wondering why no one had thought ahead to make a Christmas ornament....

but of course, they had.

Two of my favorite items are a Royal Scrapbook

and I wish you could flip through and see this one---a Royal dress up dolly book. Love seeing all those royals in their undies!

So what did I buy? Well, unlike during the Royal wedding frenzy when I bought way too many cups, and now wonder where to display them all, I've used restraint this time. 

So far, I've bought the musical biscuit tin,

and this lovely ornament from Harrod's

and my craziest find of all.

Royal sunglasses for the weekend, as modeled by "Princess" Jordan!

Hope you'll be watching along as we celebrate--either in person or on TV!

Do I need to pick up a little souvenir for you?