One parade at 1pm each day which was a change from previous years. Walked with the lovely Gerald Dickens in the parade ( you can find his blog post on the weekend here https://geralddickens.wordpress.com/2022/06/07/rochester-jubilee-or-dickens/ ) and members of The Dickens Fellowship.
Not as many crowds to interact with so historical interpretation was on the low end, was mostly focused on friendship and supporting The Proppers this year. It was wonderful to see our youngest members dressing up into characters and enjoying themselves.
I was planning to wear another lilac dress on the second day of the festival but the postman had other ideas. I ended up wearing my beautiful state robes at the ball and my Prior Attire dress the two days of the festival. We have tried to add more authenticity to Prince Albert ( unfortunately his faux sideburns and moustache went for a walkabout and got lost which I suspect is now in a landfill somewhere…) but not to worry we will get another set.
Shane had a brand new frock coat made especially for the festival, i think he looks very handsome in his clothing. We invested in new trousers, original Victorian waistcoats, suspenders, cravat and of course new sashes.
A big thank you to Rachel Evens for this image
I also got a new bonnet from Jane Walton ( she kindly dropped it off to me when we was working for a museum over in Oxfordshire) Unfortunately I didn’t wear it much as I wore my crowns to fit in with the jubilee theme. I hope to wear it to Broadstairs Dickens festival this month, I won’t be going as Victoria and I will be going as a normal Victorian woman which will be just as fun and probably a bit better as it’s very much more relaxed when you’re not portraying royalty
