What Is The Purpose Of Garden Party

As well as Wimbledon, Royal Ascot and Trooping the Colour, another staple in the British summer calendar are the annual garden parties at Buckingham Palace.

Unfortunately, for many of us, this is an event we might not be adding to our own personal calendars any time soon. However, you would be mistaken for thinking it's exclusive to just those close to the royal family.

Each year, the Queen welcomes more than 30,000 guests to either Buckingham Palace or Holyroodhouse in Scotland for garden parties. According to the Palace, 20,000 slices of cake are consumed and 27,000 cups of tea are drank at each do.

So, who are these lucky members of the public that receive an invitation to such an prestigious event in one of the world's most famous buildings?

As the Debrett's Handbook notes, invites are sent to a huge range of people "often involved in charitable or public service roles, the armed forces, show business and the arts".

One couple who attended a garden party at the beginning of June were Chris and Dee Drake, who run the Toy Appeal charity in Manchester.

Chris and Dee Drake in their outfits for the Queen's garden party

Dee Drake

"We were both very excited to receive a lovely letter asking if we would like to be invited to one of the Queen's garden parties," Dee told Countryliving.com/uk.

Their invite didn't specify exactly why they had received the letter, but they guessed it was down to their charity work.

Chris and Dee's charity work...

The couple took a sabbatical in December 2012 when they started to volunteer in Collyhurst, one of the most socially deprived areas of Manchester. They discovered charities were putting together toy sacks for children who otherwise wouldn't receive any presents on Christmas Day.

"We had never ever considered that children living in Manchester could wake up with no presents on Christmas day and it broke our hearts," Dee says. "We set up The Toy Appeal - Give a Child a Christmas with the objective to ensure no child in the Manchester, Cheshire, Lancashire and now Wirral area would wake up on Christmas Day with no presents to open."

Since then, the charity has gone from strength to strength. Last year, the organisation delivered 3,000 sacks, each filled with a teddy bear, two books, a main present, stocking filler, an arts and crafts item, board game and sports equipment, to the child's school or social worker.

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"We don't have children, so this fills a huge gap in our lives and gives us so much enjoyment - we both love it," Dee says.

What was the garden party like?

The couple were particularly excited to meet other inspiring and interesting guests at the palace and chatted with "wonderful people from all walks of life".

According to Debretts, the guests tend to arrive at the event for 3.15pm, with members of the royal family joining slightly later at 4pm. The national anthem is played before the Queen and her family "split up and circulate among the throng, with lanes of people formed by the Bodyguard for the Queen".

The Queen greeting guests at a Buckingham Palace garden party on May 31

Getty Images

"Sadly, there were so many people around the Queen and Prince William, we decided to take time to enjoy the gardens and talk to other attendees," Dee reflects.

Despite not getting to meet the royal family, Dee says the three-hour event was "magical".

"The food was lovely, a real afternoon tea. And where better to have afternoon tea than the palace?" she says. "It's a day we will never forget and we both felt truly honoured to be invited."

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