Diamond Jubilee Souvenirs

Diamond Jubilee Royal Collection.

During my visit to London last April, I stopped by The Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace to view the Royal Carriages and Rolls Royce vehicles used by the Royal Family. I shared that visit in my previous blog post, Tour of the Royal Mews. After the visit, I stopped by the Shop at the Royal Mews to check out the souvenirs that I can purchase to commemorate The Queen's Diamond Jubilee? I was excited to see all of these beautiful royal porcelains, china, Gilded boxes filled with cookies, chocolates, candies, some Tea-things like tea cup and teapots, kitchen stuff, trinket boxes which were all Made in England.  There were several commemorative books and  DVDs about The Queen and the Royal Family. There was even a section for the children filled with Princess t-shirts, pyjamas, toys, children's books, colouring books, pencils, pens and even a "God Save The Queen" pillow.

Click here, Royal Collection Shop to view and shop for more items. They ship internationally.  I purchased two books:The Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and The Royal Mews, some pens and a magnet souvenir for our fridge.  Which souvenir will you select and buy? 

I would love to order one of these tea sets.

Such a pretty tea set.

For the kids...

I purchased a Princess Pink t-shirt and a Princess colouring book for my niece.

For my nephew, I purchased the Queen's Guards Uniform pyjama set.

When in London, here is another shop for more Royal Souvenirs...

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Tour of the Royal Mews

The Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace.

The Royals Mews at Buckingham Palace is a working department of the Royal Household. It is not  a Museum. The Royal Mews was built between 1822 and 1825 by John Nash, same architect that built Buckingham Palace for King George IV. It houses the State Carriages and Rolls Royce vehicles that the Royal Family use for their own transport to Major state occasions, Jubilees,  Opening of Parliament, Coronations, Royal Weddings  and also including the investitures of Foreign Ambassadors for presentation to the Queen.

During my visit to London last month, I decided to stop by at the Royal Mews to view the many different Carriages and the Rolls Royce used by the Royal Family. It is located behind Buckingham Palace. During my visit, there was a guided tour given by one of the Palace staff. Luckily I joined and  learnt some information and history about the working life in the Mews, the history of the carriages and the Rolls Royce used by the Royal family. I was amazed that they have staff for everything: to train, feed and clean the horses, to make sure the liveries and harnesses are all cleaned and shiny, the care of the carriages to make sure they are clean, shiny and in top condition and the Rolls Royce ready for the Royals to use. There's plenty of hardwork involved in this place which I appreciated seeing it on hand. We all benefit from it when we see all of the Windsor Grey horses parading with the Royals in the carriages  or when we see the shiny Rolls Royce arriving with the Queen and Prince Philip. Here are some of my photographs from the tour of the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace.

Carriages and Rolls Royce fit for a Queen.

The Gold Coach was used three times only by Queen Elizabeth II: The first during her Coronation in June 1953, the second during her 1977 Silver Jubilee and lastly in 2002 during The Golden Jubilee. Unfortunately, the Queen will not use this carriage for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

The Gold State Coach was commissioned by George III in 1762. The front and the rear shows two carved Tritons representing England's Navy power. According to our guide, the Royals does not enjoy riding this Coach because it swings not only up and down but in all directions. Also to get it out from this room, the whole wall on one side including the framed windows would have to be removed.

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