A year ago today was my most favorite experience in London.

And I almost didn’t go.

But we’ll get back to that in a second. I’ve been wanting to start a blog series highlighting some of our favorite experiences while living in London. I had grand intentions of this being a well thought out series, going in the order of events as they happened…but life has prevented that so I’m rolling with the punches!

Since we’re going out of order, I thought I’d start with my favorite experience in London on the anniversary that it happened…because I’m nostalgic like that 😉 Welcome to my first post of The London Chronicles: Trooping the Colour 2018!

If you know me at all…or even a little (let’s be honest) you probably know that I kinda, sorta, really love the British Royal Family. My dad introduced me to them when Princess Diana died and I became fascinated with the monarchy as I grew up. William was always my favorite Prince…sorry Harry! And naturally, when William started dating Kate I was all about it. I’ve been rooting for her since day one and think she’s absolutely beautiful and so elegant. She’s my favorite 🙂

A few years before we ever knew we were moving to London, Clint and I made Vision Boards. You can read more about those here. Just before I finished mine I decided to put a photo of William and Kate on it because I wanted to see them in person. It seemed nearly impossible that this would ever become a reality. At the time I thought the most I would ever spend in London would be a one week vacation and the odds of seeing anyone from the Royal Family would be slim to none. But Vision Boards are all about dreaming big so I put it on there anyway!

Fast forward to June 2018. Clint and I were entering our fifth month of living in England and I learned that Trooping the Colour was taking place in two days. Trooping the Colour is the official celebration of the Queen’s birthday and takes place every year in June…although her birthday is actually in April. You can read more about why that is here. But for time’s sake…all you need to know is that it’s a big parade where the whole Royal Family, and regiments of the British Military, show up to honor the Queen. I knew this would probably be my best chance to see Kate and William.

The night before the event, Clint learned that he could no longer go with me. I’m not a huge fan of crowds and I’ve never been one to arrive hours early to camp out for a good seat to something…especially alone, so I seriously contemplated just staying home. But eventually I decided I’d give it a shot and figured if I arrived and it was too crowded, I’d just go home.

Man, am I glad I went!

I got up early that morning and made the four mile journey to Buckingham Palace…yep, we lived only four miles away! (Although public transportation makes travel time much longer than traveling four miles in the US does!) When I arrived I was surprised to find that there weren’t a whole lot of people there yet and I was able to get a front row “seat”! I couldn’t believe it!

An unexpected surprise was getting to see Kate, William, Harry, and Meghan’s motorcade pass right in front me! I couldn’t believe my luck! I knew I would see them that day but I had no idea I’d see them up close. Somehow, I managed to snap a beautiful portrait of Kate waving from her car. It’s one of my most favorite captures ever.

The rest of the day included getting to see not just Kate and William but the ENTIRE Royal Family; befriending a random man named Mike, who I convinced to leave his front row spot with me for a chance to go up to the palace gates and see the family make their appearance on the balcony; literally sprinting nearly 1/2 a mile back up The Mall (still with Mike ha!) after some misinformation sent us to the back of the crowd; and reaching the palace gates just in time to see the Queen step out on the balcony with the rest of her family. It was a hilarious, exciting, and surreal day and I can’t believe I almost didn’t go!

If you ever have the chance to witness Trooping the Colour I would 100% recommend it. It’s the best way to see most of the Royal Family all in one go and also get a dose of the pomp and circumstance that England does so well. If you find yourself over there in the future on this day I can give you some good tips about where to go for the best view!