Watching Prince William Become a Knight

I'm pleased to say that I can now check "attend a event with the Queen" off of my life list! After writing a letter to the Master of the Royal Households back in January telling him of my interest, I was given two tickets to the 2008 "Most Noble Order of the Garter" procession at Windsor Castle. It was thrilling. You will see that D and I were within 30 feet of nearly every member of the royal family as they processed within the castle grounds from the State Apartments to St George's Chapel. At the ceremony in the chapel, Prince William was made a Knight of the Royal Order of the Garter. (Click here for the coverage from CNN.com. And this is their short video of the procession, which is nice because you can hear the musical accompaniment from the military bands.)

Here are more of the photos that I took at the event. Everyone in the Royal Family (or "the celebrities", as D called them) looked spectacular!

We've just arrived at Windsor Castle. What's that over my left shoulder? One of our infamous Ravens tailgaiting collapsible chairs -- the ones we carried across the Atlantic last May in a specially designed suitcase (Thanks, Steve!). Who knew our humble stadium seats would one day be at Windsor Castle!We were assigned a general area in which to set up our chairs, and selected a spot directly across from the west entrance to St George's Chapel. It proved to be the perfect vantage point! The Queen's Yeomen of the Guard were the first in the procession.They were followed by dismounted squadrons of the Household Cavalry, who took up positions all along the ceremonial route......then by the military band.Certain honored guests who had just been lunching with the Queen then arrived on foot or by royal car. Prince Harry and Kate Middleton (Prince William's girlfriend) arrived first......followed quickly by Camilla (Prince Charles's wife).Next to march in were the Military Knights -- retired soldiers who live at Windsor Castle and whose sole official duty is to pray for the Queen and the Knights......followed immediately by all twenty six Knights of the Garter.Each is wearing a long blue velvet robe, adorned with the cross of St George, and a black velvet hat with large white ostrich plumes. They also wear golden emblems depicting St George and the dragon, and each wears a blue garter. (If you want more historical context, look at this 3-minute long video from UK SkyTV.) The people around us (Brits, of course) all seemed to recognize each of the Knights. ("Look luv, there's the Duke of Abercorn!") We only recognized the "famous" ones, including Sir John Major, the former Prime Minister, and Baroness Margaret Thatcher. Here is Sir John Major:At the rear of the procession of Garter Knights are the knighted members of the Royal Family, including Princess Ann, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward, Prince Charles, the newly appointed Knight Prince William, followed by Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth. Here are Princes Andrew, Edward, William and Charles as they passed us. Prince William is looking and smiling directly at his girlfriend, Kate, in this photo.Here is Prince Charles. If you look to the left in this shot, you can see a bit of his wife Camilla, in her white hat, smiling at him in the background.And here is the Queen with her husband. (I didn't get very flattering shots of her, but she looked lovely!)While the 45-minute service was conducted in the chapel (with audio piped out to those of us on the procession route), we waited patiently with the crowd. D was a great sport. This really isn't his "thing" -- he repeatedly said that he knew Jamie would've been enjoying it even more(!) than he was -- but he hung in there because he knew I wanted to be there. (Thanks!)D was wearing a tie because he had to go directly to London for a dinner meeting after the ceremony; what a trooper! (Note to self: Must not complain as he continues to watch every bloody match of the Euro 2008 soccer tournament...)

At the conclusion of the ceremony, the honored guests came back out of the west entrance to the chapel and awaited the departure of the Queen and her Knights. This time, they passed by in horse-drawn carriages. First up the hill were the Queen and Prince Philip......followed by Prince Charles, Camilla, Prince William and Prince Andrew...Big day for Prince William -- and what fun!

And all of you royal wedding afficionados, take note -- the local press here said today, "It was the first time Miss Middleton has attended a formal and official Royal public occasion. ... Her attendance at the event will be taken as one the most significant signs yet that she will soon become a full-time member of the Royal family." Get your bag packed, Jamie!

Finally, just for grins, here is a gallery of only a few of the fancy-dressed, fancy-hatted guests we saw yesterday: