The Unofficial British Royal Family Pages

Tomorrow I leave for home. How sad it will be to end my exciting adventure. How fortunate I feel to have enjoyed all I have enjoyed and even to have been here at all.

This afternoon my tea is confirmed so that might mean a great Muse column next week. That's the plan anyway! Tomorrow I'm meeting Gerald Grant, the heraldry expert, before attending the Colonel's Review of Trooping the Colour on Horse Guards Parade. That's right, I walked down to the Horse Guards Parade this morning and picked up my entry ticket. I'll be seated in a special South Section in front of the bleachers that is for members of the media. How exciting is that? I can't wait. I bought more film and barring any rewinding problems, I'll hope to take some great photographs as well. This time I won't use telephoto either. :-}

Yesterday I spent quite a bit of time on the telephone setting all of this up. Also, I had to fax a letter to the Head of the HQ Household Division in order to request the ticket for the Colonel's Review of Trooping the Colour on Horse Guards Parade tomorrow. Then I took three trains to Windsor. There I bought so many books that I ended up buying a suitcase with wheels as I couldn't carry them all! Then I met our reader, Marti, at the Harte & Garter Hotel for tea. He brought a dear friend of his who lives in Windsor and is a real fan of the Queen. She was kind enough to bring photographs that she had taken of the Queen on different walk-abouts, the Queen Mother's Funeral, the Gardens at Windsor and even the Jubilee. It was an amazing collection and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing it.

We then walked over to Methven's Book Shop on Peascod Street. (Peascod is pronounced Pescot.) There we were given a glass of wine and ascended the staircase to take our seats where we listened to lecture by Jane Roberts. Jane Roberts recently edited a book about the Royal Collection now on view at the Queen's Gallery. The book is titled, "Royal Treasures: A Golden Jubilee Celebration" and is a 496-page catalogue with over 450 colour illustrations. The publication includes essays by Christopher Lloyd, Jonathan Marsden, Hugh Roberts and David Watkin. It is published by the Royal Collection, price �40.00 (Hardback), �27.50 (Softback). The Royal Collection is the only collection of major national importance to receive no Government funding or public subsidy. It is administered by the Royal Collection Trust, a registered charity established by The Queen in 1993. For more information visit the "Official" web site at:
http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page603.asp 

Interestingly, I enjoyed the talk more having seen the collection, then I think I would have had I not seen it. I was able to envision all she spoke about and some things were made a bit clearer than they were during my visit. Of course I bought the hardback edition, which the owner had put on special pricing to �35.00 for the event. I also got �3.00 off Brian Hoey's book about the Queen and her fifty-year reign, �10.00 off a book about the Kings and Queens of England, and mistakenly purchased "The Little Princesses" by Marian Crawford because I saw that Jennie Bond had written the introduction. My error was to think Jennie Bond wrote the book and being very interested in what she might say, I scooped it up while on line.

As you can well imagine, coming home last night with what had to be 100 pounds of books was a nightmare. Rolling wheel suitcase and all, it was dreadful carrying it up the stairs and down the stairs too. Several men stopped to see if they could help and finally I allowed one to carry it up one flight. Thought the man would faint, so I said, "Too bad I'm not like most woman and buy clothes. I'm sure they would be much lighter than all these books." He smiled and I was sure to turn down the next offer of assistance!

I stopped outside the station to get tea and went back to the hotel for a night of beauty (actually repair) and packing. My carry-on suitcase and my new roller suitcase are both filled with books. I also bought a new carry on bag for my dirty laundry. How sad is that?! Well, I'm off now to Westminster County Hall for tea at the Marriott. I'll try to write tomorrow before I head back to the airport. I'll have to see what my timing is after the big parade. Hooray!

All the best,

-- Eileen Sullivan --