A day to remember. ..An invitation to Buckingham Palace
On Wednesday 20th May 2015, my wife and I attended a garden tea party at
Buckingham Palace….to say it was a glorious day and a day to remember
forever is an understatement. Upon arrival, at BP Buckingham Palace) we
parked our car at The Mall (as one could not park in front of BP). We
affixed the Royal sticker on the left hand side of the car and walked to
BP.
As we walked to BP, observing many others like us whom were
invited and dressed to impress for the occasion. We queued up for around
5-10 minutes.
At the gate, we were asked by police officials for
our invitation and a proof of our names (driving license or passport
were the sufficient verification). Once we gained access to the palace,
the nerves and excitement were equally electrifying. As we were ushered
into the palace by guards, we immediately noticed where the food queue
was and we got in line.
After receiving all the delicacies
(Victoria sponge cakes, brownies, various sandwiches, lemon cured, and
many more), we were told the queen was on her way to the tea to join us
for the party so everyone was told to form a curve line whilst the queen
and her entourage walked pass…After pushing our way close to the front,
my wife complained about her restriction to see, hence I managed to
smuggle my way through the crowd some more and we ended up right in
front by the tent.
After about 10mins of waiting on the queen…One
of the palace custodian asked us if we would like to speak with the
Duke. ..Immediately, I was stunned and unable to speak. However, I could
hear my wife replying ‘yes please’ and the crowd around me whispering
in amazement ‘wow’…that’s when I woke up.
The custodian handed us
over to another custodian who took our names and titles and then
introduced us to the duke. It was at this time we noticed the crowd’s
attention was on us.
The Duke extended his hand and asked for my
name and title… I introduced myself and my wife…confirmed I was the
senior pastor of Christ Apostolic church in Seven sister.. by the look
on the duke’s face he had never heard of our church before so, I went on
to give him a brief history lesson of the church – that it was the
first black Pentecostal church in Europe, it was founded in Nigeria by
Apostle Bababola.
Then the Duke asked me what led me to the UK…so
I replied ‘studying at first then until later the church authority
posted me. Then he asked how myself and my wife met… In which I went
onto another brief history… (We all joked and laughed) and he then
finally jokingly asked me when I was planning to go back to Nigeria… In
which I laughed and said not yet and that I have come to stay. We
laughed again then he shook my hand and headed towards the tent.
The queen walked graciously behind the duke whilst smiling at us the whole time.
The
crowd was then left to network amongst themselves. ..Then that’s when
it began. ..I had an elderly white couple come up to ask me if I was
famous and that’s why the duke conversed with me and for so long… In
which my wife proudly replied ‘yes’.. You may have seen or heard him
around he is the senior pastor of the first black Pentecostal church in
the UK’..The elderly appalled me at the remarks of my wife and we joked
briefly.
It was at this point I realised that when we were
conversing with the Duke earlier the whole crowd was watching us… This
was confirmed by another couple who came to ask us ‘what was the
conversation with the Duke about. What did he say? How did we reply etc…
We were asked a few more questions by other members of the crowd
(Infact I felt more famous than the royals at one point…haha)…It was at
this point I realised how fortunate it was to be here and to be admired
by so many.
We walked around the crowd with beaming smiles on our faces whilst enjoying the ice cream desert handed to us by the waiters.
We then listened to the live music band and walked around to view and appreciate the scenery.
This brought a beautiful end to a beautiful day. We left the palace at around 6.30pm and headed home.