Queen Elizabeth throws garden party

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth hosted the first Buckingham Palace garden party of the summer yesterday (22.05.13).

The monarch – joined by her husband Prince Philip, son Prince Charles and his wife Duchess Camilla, Duchess Catherine and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester – threw open the doors of her London residence for Olympians, Paralympians and London 2012 officials.

Swimmer Rebecca Adlington – who has met the queen several times – joked the event was the ”last hurrah” for the Games, and admitted she no longer expects to receive such invitations after announcing her retirement.

She said: ”I’ve never been to the garden party before – it feels like we are milking it quite a lot! This is the last hurrah almost for the games. I never get to come to this again”.

Over 8,000 guests attended the event, where the royals mingled freely with attendees, and cancer sufferer Kate Granger was delighted to speak to the monarch about her fundraising efforts, having raised £62,000 for Yorkshire Cancer Centre following her diagnosis with the disease.

She said: I’ve still no idea who put me forward for this, but it’s been such a wonderful day and an honour.

”The queen asked me about my fundraising, and how we had raised the money. My bucket list was much more normal than this so I could have never dreamt I would be here.”

Marie Curie nurse Susan Bradley spoke to Catherine – who is seven months pregnant with her first child – who expressed her ”admiration” for her work.

Susan said: ”She instantly recognised my uniform and the daffodil in my lapel and told me that she had great admiration for the work the charity does as our staff cared for her own grandfather in his home when he was terminally ill.”