When you’re Queen, you can break your own rules.
Belfast-based bloggerLaura-Ann Barrscored a coveted invitation toQueen Elizabeth‘sgarden party at Buckingham Palaceon Wednesday, and she wanted to show her appreciation to the 93-year-old monarch with a gift: a bouquet of flowers.
The exciting moment came as a shock — given that Laura-Ann was warned that the Queen usually doesn’t accept flowers at garden parties.
Queen Elizabeth.Press Association via AP Images
“I didn’t see anyone else with flowers,” the blogger tells PEOPLE. “I suppose it’s not really meant to be done at a garden party, but I was only going to have one chance of meeting the Queen and I was going to give it my all. I bought them at the tube station flower shop that morning and had them in my handbag going through the gates.”
She added, “They did inform me that unfortunately she would not stop to accept them as it’s not protocol and if I’m lucky her lady-in-waiting might spot them and accept them on her behalf. I think they were very shocked when it happened!”
Even the security staff was amazed.
“The security staff congratulated me and said they were surprised she stopped and accepted the flowers,” Laura-Ann says. “They said that had not happened ever before.”
“We were one of the first people through the gates, and so had our tea and cakes straight away and went straight to the entrance of the royal tea tent, knowing she would walk this way,” says Laura-Ann. “While everyone was sheltering form the rain in the normal tea tents, mum and I stood for over an hour at the entrance of the royal tent with our umbrellas up patiently waiting hopeful we would have the best chance of seeing her up close and possibly meeting her.”
She adds, “There were 8,000 people there, and I honestly couldn’t believe my luck. I was just in the perfect place at the right time.”
Laura-Ann also had brief encounters withPrince Harry, 34 — who thanked her for congratulating him on becoming a new dad — as well asPrincess Beatrice, 30, andPrincess Eugenie, 29.
“[They] were very beautiful and made eye contact and smiled to say hello,” she shares. “They seem like really lovely girls!”
Queen Elizabeth, Princess Eugenie, Princess Beatrice and Prince Harry.Yui Mok/WPA Pool/Getty
Garden parties have been held at Buckingham Palace since the 1860s as a way to recognize and reward public service.
According to the palace, around 27,000 cups of tea are served and 20,000 sandwiches and 20,000 slices of cake are consumed during the event.
The final garden party of the year, taking place at Holyroodhouse in Scotland, will occur on July 3.
source: people.com
