Sarkozy visits Windsor

Today the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife arrived in the UK for a 2 day State Visit. Their first stop was lunch with the Queen at Windsor Castle. The preparations in Windsor have been underway for a week and Sheet Street closed for 2 days for rehearsal. At 11am James and I went out our back gate to the Long Walk. Looking towards the Copper Horse we saw what looked like the entire English cavalry in full military dress parading towards us and the Castle. It was an amazing sight and the music can only be described as moving! We laughed to see the 'Queen's duvet' flying atop the Round Tower. It is truly the biggest flag you have ever seen andmust weigh a ton! The parade (I can't even begin to think how many there were) halted for a few minutes at the Castle gates then on orders turned into Park Street to ride down High and Thames Streets to meet the Royal Party and their guests at the Eton & Riverside station. James and I met Annie, Charlie, Oliver and Mariella at the corner of Park & Sheet. Oliver was in full uniform with strict behaviour and attitude to match. He had even shined his shoes! He and James looked so smart in uniform and attracted many admiring looks. Bless! We had a good vantage point along the barricade. I have never seen so many police and security men about; they were even on tops of buildings with telescopic lenses and abseiling gear. Presently the fanfare reached a crescendo and along came 3 open carriages - the Queen and President Sarkozy, the Duke of Edinburgh and Carla Bruni (Madame Sarkozy) and Charles and Camilla. The first carriage was the Australian-made one and the second was Scottish. It was very exciting and we cheered and waved our Union and French flags. As I came home late tonight the Castle is lit up beautifully and flag flying smartly. A State dinner is being held so I expect it will be a late night for them. Even later for the street-sweepers - there were hundreds of horses!

Photos are here.