A kilt at The Palace.

[KFCarter]

Quite an honor... and quite enjoyable, too from the looks of it. Thanks for sharing the pics!

[Tartan Shortbread Jock]

Hello Hamish, it must have been a great day for you and your friend.
Am sure the memory will stay with you in the years to come.

[Hamish]

Thanks for the report friend!

I would mention how dashing you look,

Too kind, Jamie. Too kind.

.....but I know how modest and shy you are!

Never was a truer word uttered!

Take care,
Ham.

[Hamish]

So how does one become invited to such an event?

Possibly the result of it being not what one knows, but whom one knows!

Take care,
Ham.

[Hamish]

Ham, I found a way to partially beat the photography ban at Buckingham Palace, at least to take an unobstructed photo of someone standing in front of it. They let us out the big gates at the front and I turned around after getting onto the pavement and took a picture looking back through them while they were open. No rules broken, as anyone can take a picture from outside. Of course, it would be difficult to have known when the gates were going to open if I hadn't just come through them at the time.

They actually allowed people to take pictures in the courtyard at Buckingham Palace, where you weren't really in or out, i.e. not actually inside the building but you couldn't be seen by the great unwashed on the outside. OTOH, pictures taken at that spot look rather anonymous - you could be almost anywhere!

I don't know if they have a designated area like a courtyard at St. James' Palace where you can take pictures. I also wonder if security is tighter than it used to be. For example, I wonder if they even open the larger gates now. I assume they still continue to allow you to take a camera inside (if not use it), as otherwise how would you be snapping pictures outside?

Photography is forbidden inside any of the Royal Palaces but is permitted in the grounds outside the buildings - with the exception of St.James Palace and Clarence House! We chose to use Buckingham Palace as our photo background as I was well aware of the restrictions we would face later. Yes, if I'd been carrying a camera in a bag on my shoulder, I would have been obliged to hand it over at St. James' Palace door, then reclaim it on leaving. On this occasion I took my wee Sony Cyber-Shot one which slips into the smallest pocket. I declared it at the airport-style security point as we entered the Palace, but was permitted to take it inside - possibly as we were a small group of invitees and not the general public. St James' Palace is not open to the public and so no courtyard area is set aside for photography. The open-sided Friary Court at the Tudor building fronts onto Cleveland Row and may therefore be used as a background but one cannot cross into the Court from the pavement/sidewalk.

Take care,
Ham.

[Hamish]

A great insight, Hamish - Thanks. Is that a Howie Nicholsby you are wearing? Very much a 'Gent about Town' look.

Regards

Chas

Thanks Chas. Well spotted - yes, it is a Howie Nicholsby (21st Century Kilts) suit. He made this one for me in 2003 - the third of the five kilt suits I have had from him. I felt it was the most appropriate of the five to wear on this occasion - an early evening event when a lounge suit was the expected garb!

Take care,
Ham.

[Hamish]

Thanks everyone for your kind remarks. As Sydnie suggests, it was another day to remember - definitely one to be recalled in my autobiography!!

Take care,
Ham.

[Jack Daw]

A very handsome outfit, lady, and palace! You are a lucky dog.

[starbkjrus]

Very nice Hamish. I read about that reception (The book is on my Christmas list) and wondered if you might have gone.

I should have known that you would be there.

[Santa Kona]

Wonderful indeed.