As the crowds continued to gather the day before the Coronation, we noticed people quickly moving towards one corner of the street leading to the Clarence House, we realized the King’s motorcade had stopped. As we looked up we saw the burgundy Bentley State Limousine stopped in the middle of the road of “The Mall”. It was then we realized the members of the Royal Family were greeting members of the crowds gathered on the Coronation route leading to Buckingham Palace.
I quickly moved toward the gathering crowd and worked my way to the front of the crowd at the MET police barrier line, as I watched and took pictures, King Charles III continued down the line shaking hands with well-wishers. The crowd was ecstatic and really enjoying the surprise stop by the King and the Prince and Princess of Wales to greet the crowds the day before the Coronation event. Before I realized it, I too, was shaking hands with a King.
We had a beautiful afternoon, the crowd’s excitement about the surprise stop and greet by the royals, carried the day’s celebrations well into the night, and even as the rains began to come in, in true England form, the crowd’s excitement never diminished, if anything, it only continued to grow as people we standing on the streets of London, with just hours away, an event not experienced in 70 years.