It’s not often that you get an invitation to the Queen’s Garden Party…
So I was pretty shocked to get the letter through the post! I was invited for my charity work and raising awareness for severe M.E. It came in the thickest card I have ever seen and was really quite special. I thought about how happy my Gran, Grandma and Grampy would have been to see me go.
Despite feeling incredibly lucky to have been invited, a little part of me felt for all the other M.E. sufferers who weren’t going to be able to come or get that opportunity: they are just too poorly. The day after the Garden Party was my 5 year anniversary of me standing up for the first time and it just highlighted how far I have come.
I had never been to a Garden Party, let alone the Queen’s so had no idea what to wear. I was also very aware that I needed to take things slowly, as my energy levels were very up and down. I know of people who have received an invite to such an event but were too poorly to go.
I chose a dress that would compliment my new pregnant figure in a light blue with pearls as accessories. I spent the morning getting ready with a face full of makeup! This was for two reasons, one was sun protection and the other was to make me look alive! Invisible chronic illnesses are difficult because you don’t always look as sick as you feel. Although I was excited, I was pretty exhausted too, having not had a good night either. I had my hair curled by my lovely carer just before we went.
On the journey to London, I rested. My chair was reclined and as flat as it could go. Baby seemed to be excited too, as she made her presence known! We were given a car space right outside Buckingham Palace and arrived there with good time to spare. This meant I could have a rest beforehand and go somewhere quiet to feel ready. I managed to surreptitiously drop a bit of my food down me (the joys of not having great fine motor skills). The area around Buckingham palace wasn’t particularly good for access. There were a couple of times when my wheelchair got stuck on the pavement or there wasn’t a dropped kerb.
There were a huge amount of people attending the garden party. All having done incredible inspiring work for charities, the military and other important things. It was an honour to stand by them all. The queue was massive but thankfully we managed to skip the queue because of my wheelchair and went straight into the garden gates. It was a beautiful day and we went on a walk around the gardens with all the beautiful trees and flowers. There was minimum ramps so I couldn’t just get onto the grass but enjoyed it from afar.
After going along the whole garden, we made our way with the rest of the crowd to hear the national anthem being played as the Queen came out with the rest of the royal family. There were so many people that I could not see when they came out. Some people were presented to the royal family. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge came down the path we were in. It was immense to see how many people were waiting just to get a glimpse of the royal family.
We got stuck in the middle, as people were crowding around and I didn’t feel I could get the wheelchair out of the tight space. All wheelchair users are lined up at the end of the afternoon to meet the Queen on her way out. Where I was stuck, we missed the tea! How do you go to a garden party and miss the tea?! When we were lined up at the end, it turned out the Queen was pretty shocked I missed the tea too!
‘No tea?!’ She exclaimed ‘That is rather sad!’
All the people who were lined up had done amazing work. Just talking to some of them was wonderful. It was a great celebration and was quintessentially British.
When we went to leave, there were so many wheelchairs to get around. It was the most wheelchairs that I had seen together before and made me feel a bit claustrophobic. The way home was the hardest part. It took a couple of hours and normally I would have stayed over. Doing two trips in one day was quite exhausting and not very M.E. friendly but I did feel amazing that I managed it.
Once we got home, I collapsed on to the bed and stayed there. I had a lot of pain relief and patches but it was worth it and now it is time to recover.