Cherry blossoms

Last night was such a memorable evening. We were invited by the company that is the main sponsor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to attend their 75th anniversary gala dinner held at Windsor Castle, and as Prince Charles is their patron he was hosting it.

Don't read on if you are not keen on the royal family! I want a record of the evening so am writing the events down here.

We arrived in good time, and had our passports checked at security, then we had to give evidence of our our negative lateral flow test to a NHS staff member before we were allowed to enter the castle. As we all had to test no masks were required but all the staff wore masks. We had to hand in our mobile phones as no photos were allowed. I have previously been on a tour of the castle yet it still is impressive to see, everything is so opulent and in pristine condition, with beautiful art pieces on the walls and gold and gilt everywhere. We started off with champagne and canapes, at an assigned drinks table and then a palace official came to our group and said that Prince Charles was about to enter and he had chosen our table to come to first to meet us. I could not believe we were going to actually meet him, as I have been to similar functions in the past and we have only ever seen Prince Charles and Camilla across the room. I went into a slight panic mode trying to remember the etiquette of how to address him – its ‘Your Royal Highness’ at first greeting and then ‘Sir’ thereafter. You don’t offer your hand to shake unless he puts his hand out first. And of course women have to curtsey and men have to bow. I was still panicking trying to remember how to curtsey (let’s be honest, when do we ever curtsey, no wonder I was not sure how to do it correctly) when he was suddenly in front of me, I forgot to curtsey but did manage to say ‘Good evening your Royal Highness’ – gosh, I never thought I would ever say those words to anyone!! He thrust his hand out and I shook it, and then he was totally relaxed and chatting away, asked me my connection to the orchestra and where I had come from tonight. He was so busy chatting to Gavin telling him how he is now the patron of no less than seven orchestras, that the palace official was getting a bit anxious and tried to move him on, as he met everyone in the room, and I think there were about 150 guests there. For me as a keen royalist it was a thrilling moment.
 
After drinks we went into the most beautiful room where we listened to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra perform. Or I should say part of it, as only about 30 members of the 80 member orchestra could fit in the room. We were lucky enough to be sitting in the front row, a couple of meters from the soprano who happened to be Pretty Yende, who had taken time out from her rehearsals of La Traviata at the ROH to perform at this event. She is a young South African opera singer who we saw in her debut at the ROH a few of years ago, and I was then, and again now, instantly transfixed by her beautiful voice. No surprise that she is the hot new sensation in the opera world. Sitting so close to her performing was a very special experience, I confess I had tears in my eyes when she sang. Prince Charles gave a short speech and joked about how he is shrinking in height! He was very relaxed and down to earth, even self deprecating.
 
After the concert we had dinner in another grand hall. I was amazed that Prince Charles stayed for the dinner, after the day he had, as earlier that day he had attended his father’s memorial service in London which must have been very emotional for him. After he left the dinner we were able to get up to leave, and we went over to speak to Pretty Yelende. She was getting some well deserved compliments from the guests and was very friendly and chatty.
 
It was indeed such a thrilling evening, one I will never forget! I have uplifted some photos from the official photographers' website of the evening, I will buy the proper version of some of these images.

Today was again dull and rather cold. I met some friends for lunch today and it was lovely to see them again and catch up, it has been months since I last saw them.

These cherry blossoms are in my garden, the light was awful today for such a photo but I wanted a record of them as last year this tree did not even flower as the buds were destroyed by a late frost - and as tomorrow we are expecting very cold weather and possibly sleet, I though I had better get a shot of them before they went brown from the cold.

And if you read all of this you deserve a medal!