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Jubilee Stories – “One of the guards offered to get some butter to get me out.”
Emma, the Senior Improvement Lead at NUH, had travelled down to London with her family, including her little brother, who was three.
When they arrived at Buckingham Palace, the flag was lowered, meaning, unfortunately, Her Majesty wasn’t there. Keen to get a better look at the royal residence and guards, Emma’s little brother stuck his head through the railings without any trouble:
“My 3-year-old brother stuck his little head through the railings to get a better look at the Grenadiers, as kids do. I decided to copy him, and my head went through very smoothly. The problem came when I tried to pull my head back out!”
That’s when Emma realised her head was trapped in the railings outside Her Majesty’s house!
It’s not a memory you forget, says Emma:
“My ears got in the way. I kept trying to pull my head back, which only made my ears swell up and make it more difficult. One of the Grenadiers offered to go and get some butter from the kitchen to grease me up and get me out!”
In the end, it wasn’t the Queen’s butter that set Emma free, it was her stepdad!
“My step-dad managed to turn me 180 degrees so that I was on my back and I could get my head out in a forward motion.”
Traditionally, the royal guards, who are in active service to Her Majesty, don’t tend to smile for selfies, photos or visitors to Buckingham Palace but Emma recalls one being rather amused by her predicament:
“I managed to get a smile from the Grenadier who had gone to fetch some butter, and apparently that is not easy to do!”