Attendees could choose from £5 standing tickets, or around $6.25, or £10 seated tickets, approximately $12.50. We opted for standing tickets, a decision we would not make again with the gift of hindsight.
According to instructions emailed to attendees, there was a strict dress code stipulating that men should wear a lounge suit and women should wear a day dress. The email warned: "If you do not adhere to this dress code, you will be refused entry."
We arrived at Green Park station, the closest underground station to Buckingham Palace, in our day dresses and comfortable shoes and headed towards Horse Guards Parade, the patch of land outside the Old Admiralty Building where the event was taking place.