What Pillar? It is the Pillar of Malay States located somewhere near the Buckingham Palace in London. Been there 4 or 5 times but never known the existence of this pillar until one day I bumped into this website.
May be I've passed by the pillar in the previous visits but never notice it. Of course this pillar is significant to me because I am a Malay, hehehe. (and also it was the name of Malaysia before the independence).
On Saturday morning, June 13th, I've set on a mini quest to look for the Pillar. I took the Circle Line to St. James's Park station. Once arrived at the station, I saw so many people walking fast towards the park. The roads around the park were all closed. Policemen were everywhere. Oh man, what's going on?
Then I heard thumping marching beat in a distant. So I walked towards the sound like everybody else. When I arrived at The Mall, there were more people but nothing was happening.
All access were barricaded, either by fences or by the crowd . "There goes my mini quest", I thought.
I sat back and waited a while to see what was going on. Then came a group of German-speaking teenagers around me. I asked the girl who sat next to me about the event. Ahah! It was the official celebration of Queen's birthday. What a lucky day for me. May be can see the Queen in person!
The Queen's Guard
And here come the Queen...
Close-up
After the progression ended, the police started to open up some of the barricades. Yeah, I can proceed my mission. But where to start. It was still difficult to move around, people are everywhere.
I have to search strategically. Using my 370mm zoom lenses, I figured out there were 3 main pillars; Canadian Gate, South & West African Gate and Australian Gate. So I decided to check out around the Australian Gate first.
Bingo!! My first guess was correct. It is located next to the Australian Gate, the main left entrance to the Palace. And yes, I have passed by this pillar every times I went there...
Mission accomplish!!
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