Lord Mayor’s Children’s Fancy Dress Party at the Mansion House

Accompanied by two hippies, Darth Vader and a toy soldier, I set out for the Mansion House on Saturday, January 7. The occasion was the annual Lord Mayor’s Children’s Fancy Dress Party for about 600 children.

The entire focus was on the children who were all presented to the Mayoral party (while the adults were shown around the side). As you would expect it ran with military precision and the children were not only well entertained and fed but also extraordinarily well behaved. Many of the stewards were drawn from the current and former staff with other volunteers who kept everything running very smoothly.

I will never look at the magnificent Egyptian Hall in quite the same way after seeing 600 children leaping up and down, giving three cheers for the Lord Mayor (louder, louder they were exhorted!) and then doing the hokey cokey followed by a conga around the Mansion House led by the Lord Mayor and the Sheriffs. I have it all on film.

The Lord Mayor was accompanied by his full entourage and also his formal escort drawn from The Company of Pikemen & Musketeers of the Honourable Artillery Company. They were dressed in a uniform dating back to Charles I and very splendid they looked too as you can see below.

It was an amazing afternoon and all four grandchildren - two of whom had come from Switzerland for the occasion – said it was the best party they had ever attended! It was certainly the biggest and possibly the noisiest and we had a wonderful afternoon.