Road to Waterloo Festival

Yesterday I was feeling rather jet-lagged and tired, so instead of going to Quadrille Club I decided to catch up on my sleep, and then in the afternoon go to Apsley House, just off Piccadilly to see what the Road to Waterloo Festival was like. There have been events at Apsley every weekend this month in celebration of the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, and though I am not really interested in battles or wars, I am rather obsessed with all things Regency, so I though I would go and check it out. :) I had already been round the house so I decided to just go to the events. Re-enactors from the Napoleonic Association were portraying soldiers and camp followers from the 7th Royal Fusiliers. There were talks on life during the Battle and what uniforms they wore which were quite interesting, and many of the soldiers were standing guard outside the house. At 3pm the soldiers marched across the road to Wellington Arch and did some displays of gun loading and pretending to fire and some marching. It was great to watch, and made hilarious by the fact that hundreds - probably thousands - of people walk, cycle, ride through the arch every day, and they kept nearly smashing into the soldiers, or practically falling off their bikes in astonishment! lol it was so funny. :) There were also a couple of Regency ladies watching the soldiers. Apparently they are a London-based group, which got me really excited as I have been wanting to join a Regency or Victorian re-enactment society for quite a while but there are none in London. Unfortunately though I can't seem to find anything about the group on the internet or even on the Napoleonic Association website. :(

Here are some photos of the soldiers outside.

Marching to Wellington Arch

I love this photo - Napoleonic Soldiers waiting at traffic lights :)

Standing to attention

A couple of Regency ladies

Army officer and Regency ladies - one of whom is not wearing a bonnet!!! tut tut :) (the lady in the white gown who is rather hidden)