GUESTS THE QUEEN WON’T WELCOME

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33869, 14 June 1975, Page 12

GUESTS THE QUEEN WON’T WELCOME

(By GILLIAN FRANKS)

A small gate at the side of Buckingham Palace opened, and a subdued group of men were ushered out into London’s Constitutional Hill. There was an army colonel, middleaged and distinguished, a naval officer, a bishop in gaiters, several medalled diplomats and a policeman.

Only the policeman was genuine. The rest were gatecrashers — “jibbers” to security men — who had spent a pleasant hour eating and drinking at the Queen's expense at a Royal garden party last year. About 30 uninvited guests were winkled out from the 8000 dignitaries from Britain and abroad invited to take tea with the Queen and her family at each of three parties in the Palace’s 39-acre garden — and reckoned only a small percentage of those actually present.

But this year security at the forthcoming three garden parties — to be held on the first three Thursday afternoons in July — will be particularly tight. With the price per head for the scones, sandwiches and cakes running at over £l, the Queen rather resents feeding people she didn’t invite. Taken in Buckingham Palace has its own secret system for catching gatecrashers. This involves morning-suited security men mingling discreetly with the groups of guests.

“Usually gatecrashers can’t resist boasting to each other how smart they've been”, I was told. “Sometimes you’re lucky enough to eavesdrop.”

The team of ushers, identifiable by their yellow carnation button-holes, have also got the knack of spotting a phoney guest — although they, too. can be taken in.

At one of last year’s parties a tall, distinguished man wearing a heavy mayoral chain was introduced to the Queen as .Mayor of a northern city and’ had a friendly halfminute chat.

A few minutes later, Prince Philip was talking to a guest who claimed to hold the identical office. It was never discovered which was the genuine rnavor.

Pretty safe "With 8000 guests to deai with, it’s inevitable that some gatecrashers sneak through,” says a Palace security expert. “All you need is a hired morning suit, an air of dignity and enough nerve to carrv it off.” The moment of truth comes when guests walk through the Buckingham Palace gates, pass under the arch and queue to hand in their tickets. If there has been particularly bad traffic congestion — it has been known for Palace-bound cars to take two hours to travel the length of Oxford Street — hundreds of guests crowd in at once and gatecrashers can be carried through in the rush.

Then it’s on to the Bow Room where party-goers queue to pass through the french windows, on to the terrace and down to the lawn.

Once there; the gatecrasher is pretty safe. He or she joins the lines of people leading from the terrace to the Queen’s teatent. From then on, unless they have been chosen to meeet a member of the Royal family, guests are free to do pretty much as they like. Walking together The vast majority have, of course, come to catch a glimpse of the Queen; but the could, if they preferred, spend the time walking in the grounds with their lakes and immaculately kept flower and vegetable gardens. But about 4 p.m. most eyes will be on the garden gJte at the north entrance, from where the Queen and her family will emerge. First, on the terrace, the Queen and Prince Philip are introduced to tenants

from the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall and then they walk down the preformed lines of guests. Prince Philip and Prince Charles usually walk together. So do the Queen and Princess Anne. Then it's time for tea, for which three tents have been erected on the lawns. One is for the ordinary guests, one for the diplomats and the third for the Royal Family. The food is the same in each one — three types of sandwiches, scones, cakes, and Indian tea. Strawberries and cream and a wider range of sandwiches used to be served until costs became too high. Experienced party-goers eat as early as possible and then take their places near the roped-off lawn leading to the Queen’s tent, where the best view of the Royal Family is to be had. Scarlet and gold After tea, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will move under a scarlet and

gold awning to meet overseas and Commonwealth guests.

After about two hours of being almost continuously on her feet, and talking to about 200 people, the Queen will return to her Palace apartments and the part is over.

This year I was told, invitations and car passes will be checked for forgeries and any suspicious guest will be taken to a special mobile police station in the Palace grounds. Rare specimens Why do people want to gatecrash on the Queen? “Bravado mostly,’’ says a Palace spokesman. “Just something to boast about afterwards.” But not always. A clergyman, an avid butterfly collector, once attended a party without an invitation, plus a collapsible butterfly net, to collect some rare specimens in the Palace gardens. When an account of his adventure appeared in a learned journal, King George VI immediately went out into the grounds to see if he could find the cnaoioc fnr himcalf