The sun has got his hat on (and so has Margaret Campo)

The Queen yesterday

The Queen on walkabout

Guests mingling at Buckingham Palace

Never let is be said that the Queen does not empathise with her subjects. So, whilst gardens up and down the country scorch under record temperatures for July, the Queen has allowed the lawns at Buckingham Palace to do likewise, as witnessed (a little Captain tells me) by Margaret and Alan “Campo” Campo DFC yesterday. Good to see the Queen entering into the spirit of the blitz all over again by not allowing her lawns to be watered. By means of real empathy, I shall expect to see her enjoying a trip on the tube in rush hour in the forthcoming days. Or not, as the case (of her son Andrew) will have it.

Photographs (c) Getty Images