The excitement has been building for days, and today is the culmination.
Already yesterday, on the eve of the coronation, King Charles, Kate Middleton and Prince William were doing a bit of PR work as they went for a surprise walkabout at The Mall by Buckingham Palace in London, to greet people who were camped out to make sure to get a good spot. Little did these folks expect to see the about-to-be crowned monarch in the flesh and up close.
The three royals were greeted with cheers as they hopped out of their cars around 1:45 p.m. local time. Princess Kate, 41, Prince William, 40, and King Charles, 74, separately strolled along the streets and mingled.
The royals seemed to shake as many hands as possible, and festive fans were bedecked with flags, bunting and other patriotic pomp. Prince William leaned down to speak with a young girl and boy holding an Australian flag while well-wishers told King Charles they traveled in from Germany, Ireland, Italy and more.
“I shook his hand and chatted with him. He saw my hat and asked me where I am from in Canada and said he liked that part of the world,” Lovel Vining from Toronto told reporters.
“It was a real thrill to shake his hand. To be able to chat to the King on the eve of his coronation is incredible,” Vining, 69, continues. “I think he looks great, really well. There is a lot going on, but I think he’s doing really well — he has difficult shoes to fill. But he’s been preparing for this for a lifetime, so I think he will do a brilliant job.”
“I wouldn’t miss this for the world, this is a bucket list item for me,” he added.
Justin Nakrin, who is visiting from New York, agreed that being in London for the coronation is “the experience of a lifetime.” Justin, 31, and his mother Rosaria also came to the U.K. in September for Queen Elizabeth’s state funeral.
“That was a solemn occasion, but this is more of a celebration, the street parties. It’s like a festival,” he says of the atmosphere. Rosaria and her son got the chance to meet King Charles, recalling, “I told him we were from the States and he said, ‘I hope you’re not camping.’ I told him I am 72, and he said, ‘That’s incredible.’ ”
Meeting Kate up close sent Manuela, a well wisher, into paroxysms of joy: “Oh my goodness, I was screaming and crying! She is so approachable, so much more beautiful in real life. I shook her hand and told her her children were beautiful and she thanked me.”
Today these same crowds are eagerly standing by for the procession to signal the return of the newly-crowned Charles to Buckingham Palace.
But not all members of the royal family were greeted so warmly. Prince Andrew was booed by a crowd of onlookers as he was driven down the Mall ahead of his brother’s coronation. The Duke of York, 63, had a sour look on his face as he was driven from Buckingham Palace in a state car on Saturday morning.
It was previously announced Andrew would have no formal role in the ceremony, having stepped down as a working royal over his links to Jeffrey Epstein and his now-settled lawsuit with Virginia Giuffre.
At this time, we don’t yet know how Harry will be received by the crowds.
However, he, like Andrew, will have no official place in the ceremony or on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with senior members of the family, as is tradition after many royal events. In an update The Daily Mail reports that Prince Harry ‘is invited to Buckingham Palace lunch’ after historic Coronation, it is claimed that he has been ‘relegated to the third row’ seated between Eugenie and Beatrice at service.
