The Royal Jubilee weekend was a truly fabulous one for me. I love the Queen and I get very over excited at parades and marching bands etc. so the whole glitzy and colourful affair was a delight for me. Rain and all. I spent the very best day of the long weekend at Buckingham Palace courtesy of my long-time friend Grace Jones. Her invitation to join her at the Royal performance in front of the Queen came just as I had booked a flight out to the US. Of course it was hastily changed to the following morning and the added cancellation fee was soon forgotten in all the excitement.
Sunday had already been spent celebrating in style if not a somewhat soggy and wet style but nevertheless celebrating with friend Alison who has a house boat moored at Chelsea and a perfect spot for viewing the flotilla of boats. We drank champagne and nibbled on delicious treats whilst reminding ourselves how lucky we were to be able to duck down below deck when the weather just got to ghastly. The small group of us gathered were also close friends of Grace’s so we spent a great deal of time discussing the forthcoming performance. We already knew that she intended to hula hoop and as one of our group was Philp Treacy, we also had a good idea of what she might intend to wear. It had been agreed that her 4 minutes had to stand out from all the other talent and there was a lot of competion and it was unanimously agreed her legs are one of her great assets so hopefully she would be flaunting them. She didn’t disappoint!
My Royal day started with a golf cart ride down Constitution Hill flanked by security men and accompanied by Maurice, the most delightful Venetian prince a girl could ever wish for. All of Grace’s friends are deeply glam and unique and Maurice is no exception. In fact he is possibly the MOST unique of them all. I have known him for many years and was delighted to have his companionship for the picnic that preceded the concert.
My bad leg and hip limited walking so dear Alison (of the houseboat) and also Grace’s fix it friend, had managed to convince the organisers that as Mrs G’s good friend the least they could do would be provide a golf cart down the long drive that leads from Hyde Park corner to the entrance of Buck Pal. Quite a hike, but not for me. I trundled alongside 20.000 people slowly making their way to the Gates to be given fabulous hampers full of great picnic foods, a flag and a poncho. Everything emblazoned with the Jubilee logo (luckily a damn sight more attractive than the Olympic logo! )
We loved our picnic and the ambience. Everyone was in such good humour and so delighted to be a part of the special chosen few. We walked through the palace and out the other side into the wonderful grounds and spread our picnic out and then proceeded to eat and drink champagne (one glass each with a Buck Palace voucher ) We smiled graciously at all the other lucky buggers, most of whom had received their invites courtesy of a nationwide lottery system.
The mix of people certainly indicated a lottery as all walks of life were represented from smart and posh to gawdy and ghastly. To smart and elegant to horrendously clad walking Union jacks but the one thing that bound everyone was the JUBILANT spirit.
As usual the spirit was somewhat dampened by the horrendous queue snaking its way through the royal bushes to the royal port-a-cabins discreetly placed in the herbaceous borders at the far side of the Palace gardens. There must have been 100 ladies in front of me and once again the mens line was shorter. I suspect a few had darted into the flower beds for a discreet wee.
At the concert itself, outside of the Palace grounds, we found ourselves in wonderful seats a few rows in front of the Royal box. We were definitely in the cool and groovy group as we exchanged pleasantries with our neighbours. David Walliams sitting next to David Furnish and David Frost. The McCartney family including the two daughter’s Stella and Mary and so many more familiar faces. We all sung and danced and cheered and shouted and I was especially delighted to hear the row behind shouting for their dad and Grandad as Sir Paul commenced his set.
Yes, the stuffy British really let their hair down and even the Royal box got lively with the young Princes up and dancing and Andrew looking like a bit of a nerd draped in the Union jack flag and waving his arms in time to some Tom Jones tune.
Pippa Middleton and brother and parents sat to my left and she looked stunning in a very red dress that certainly cried out for all to notice her.
David Furnish luckily knew all the words to his partner Sir Elton’s songs and looked like a real fan boy as he swayed and waved his tiny flag whilst his husband played along.
Nobody looked as majestic as Her Majesty though and the evening really took off when she finally appeared and joined her family.
I haven’t mentioned Grace yet. Suffice to say she was magnificent and at 8.20 she grabbed a world wide audience of millions and single handily put Hula hooping back on the map. Sitting with her son and mother and other family members the Jones team couldn’t have been prouder and I felt very, very fortunate to be included in such a once in a lifetime event.
The following night I was sitting in Los Angeles watching the very same show that aired that night on the TV. I had to pinch myself, not only to stop myself nodding off from jet lag, but more to remind myself that I was in California watching a ‘live’ broadcast (except we knew it wasn’t) but talk about time travel. Very surreal. It was also very disappointing not to have Grace in the show as they edited the damn thing and left out some of the best moments.
More Green Lantern and another chance to see old friends. I also found out that sadly the movie had not done as well at the box office and therefore there was little chance of the animated series getting picked up…so no more for me. But that’s the business I am in so on to the next.
I don’t know why I find it so difficult to sit down and ramble on for my blog. I suppose an insecurity about whether anybody will be interested. It was the same with my FaceBook fan page and now Twitter, this social media thing is very bizarre as one spends so much time trying to be private in the public eye and yet exposing oneself to the world by writing short little bursts of stuff that can’t really be that fascinating to people. Having said that I read Cher’s Twitter and feel like I know her. (I have had tea at her house, does that count? And hung out in Malibu…brownie points anyone? ) Anyway I am trying to embrace the whole thing and since I have it on good authority that Producers now check to see how popular you are I had better work harder at being wittier or scandalous or gossip monger like or maybe just by being me. That would be novel!