New and old generations of royal fans from all around the UK gathered in Hyde Park today to witness and share a once-in-a-lifetime experience in history.
Children, scouts and young professionals crowded the muddy London park from the early hours to celebrate the coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla along with those veteran royalists who didn’t want to miss the pomp and spectacle of British tradition.
They set up their tents, chairs, tables, and picnic baskets in front of the four big screens available across 360 acres of wet grass to watch the event in trepidation and excitement.
Grace Brookhouse, 20, – pictured above (centre) with Nia Dignam, 20 and Carys Alabaster, 18 from British Scouting Overseas, said: “Scouting is like doing your bit for the king and the country and I think that’s what we are doing today.”
After weeks of preparation, quite a few zoom calls and uniform checks, the group, whose aim is to provide British families living overseas with a UK scouting programme, arrived in London at 5.30am for the event.
Grace added: “All scouts are really happy about the monarchy, they do an awful lot of work for young people.”
Their enthusiasm was echoed by older generations of royal fans.
Sue Jackson, 60, came from Lancashire to make her coronation dream come true and brought Kevin Witterick, 60, from Wickford, Essex with her.
She said: “This has been in my bucket list since I was a teenager.
“It’s part of history, I am here and I can cross it off my list now.”
When asked about Charles’ role in modern British monarchy she said she expected that, as a king, he will pass on his ideas, beliefs and environmentalism to the young generation.
She said: “The monarchy will change but I can’t see it disappearing.”
Featured image: Emanuela Gioia
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