Four days before the coronation of King Charles III. and his wife Camilla, the first royal fans have already set up camp along the procession route. “I’m waiting to see them both wearing crowns with my own eyes, that will be the most important moment of the coronation for me,” one of the campers, John Loughrey, told Sky News on Tuesday.
Loughrey said he arrived ten days before the coronation on May 6 to secure the best seat along The Mall in front of Buckingham Palace. According to his own statements, he has not missed a royal event – whether weddings, births or funerals – in the past 26 years.
Die-hard fans have stocked up on tents, toilet paper, snacks, pillows and plenty of royal fan merchandise to hold out through the weekend. Loughrey and his fellow campaigners already know each other from past events. It is often the same faces that belong to the hard core of the hard-wearing Royal campers.
“You’ve seen the Queen’s coronation in black and white on TV, but to be here and see it with your own eyes, the atmosphere, the camaraderie with the people – it’s just going to be magical,” Newcastle native Marie Scott told Sky News.
Charles, 74, and Camilla, 75, will be driven back to Buckingham Palace in the Golden State Coach after the service at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, with onlookers cheering them along the route.
