We went to see the Queen, but she wasn't in, so we didn't get a cup of tea. But we did get to see those gorgeous gilded rooms again, with some great paintings and furnishings. My favourite is the White Drawing Room - for itself, and because it reminds me of John Wonnacott's clever portrait of the Royal Family.
We've seen the palace before. It's always worth another viewing, but we went especially to see the exhibition "Dress for the Occasion", a collection of 7 decades worth of Her Majesty's evening wear, plus the jewelry she wears with it. Fabulous!! Gorgeous materials, encrusted with beading and embroidery, full of clever little devices like a kick pleat with a pleated fabric behind, so there's no flashing of untoward leg.

We decides that Norman Hartnell knew how to dress the Queen; his designs were sumptuous but simple, with smooth lines and lovely detail, like this one from the 1950's.

A later favourite was this beautiful silver and gold fur trimmed evening coat, worn over several silver and gold sheath gowns in 1972, again by Hartnell.
To see more of the dresses, go here
After we'd been to the Palace itself, we continued with the Queen's Gallery to see the treasures and particularly the Watercolours and Drawings from the Collection of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
A mixed bag of pictures, some we loved and some were not so great, but well worth seeing.

One of my favourites was this 1923 pencil sketch by John Singer Sargent.
We ended our (7 hour long) day at the Royal Mews, admiring some horses, an old Rolls Royce and all the state coaches. I liked the Australian State Coach best until we saw

this humongous gold monster! 12 feet high and goodness knows how many tons in weight, it knocked the Lord Mayor's Gold Coach to flinders! Magnificent is too small a description. They have to not only open the door, but remove the door and the hinges, and the skylight above, to get it out of it's garage. Needless to say, it's only been used 3 times in our Queen's reign. As the guide said, if she decides to get it out for her Diamond Jubilee in 6 years time, go and see it trundle through the streets!