Queen's London garden party ruined by downpour

July 8, 2009

The Queen’s annual summer garden party at Buckingham Palace had an unwelcome guest this year - torrential rain.

Some 8,000 guests attended the outdoor event yesterday, where the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh undertake a 'walkabout' greeting and speaking to the partygoers. Luckily the walkabout had finished by the time the rain came but the guests were still sipping their champagne and eating their cucumber sandwiches when the lightning started to strike and the hail began to fall.

The guests were mostly decked out in dresses and hats and found themselves having to wade through deep puddle that had formed as the sky lit up above them.

Around 3 inches of rain fell yesterday in some South-East regions causing chaos in the capital, with two underground staions flooding and overground train services being disrupted.

Particularly heavy downpours at about 5pm also caught out the Harry Potter stars signing autographs outside the West End’s Odeon cinema in Leicester Square. This famous London venue hosts most major film premiers and last night the party was for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

The Met Office says more showers could be on the way for the London region today.