After a tough few years for the UK, I couldn’t wait to get out this weekend and celebrate the Coronation along with the nation. I’ve somehow adopted the title of royalist amongst my friends and colleagues, but reality is that I’m fascinated by our history, interested in people and love a good time - something the royals seem to package up in abundance! It also just so happens that I have a lot of royal mugs and tea towels, including my newly acquired Coronation-themed oven gloves and limited-edition Nespresso pods (Yes, I admit I ordered 150 of our usual pods in order to get a Coronation themed mug, tea towel and Coronation jewelled pods - but hey these things don’t come around very often)!
In 2018/19, the revenue from The Crown Estate came in at £343.5 million and just by existing, I believe it strengthens our communities and international relations and boosts awareness of so many undervalued and unknown charities, initiatives and groups.
But what about this weekend itself?
My celebrations started on Saturday in a very wet London. (The new poncho came in very handy!) Spirits were not dampened however when I arrived into Paddington to station staff handing out flags and crowns and Reese’s giving away free chocolate peanut butter crowns - a nice bit of awareness for them.
As ever, my royal celebrations were catered by M&S as we collected picnic bits (and some fizz!) and headed to Hyde park, ponchos on and massive umbrella in hand. As much as it would have been great to stand along the procession route, we didn’t fancy camping two days in advance – I love the Royal family, but maybe not that much! There was still a brilliant buzz as we joined hundreds watching the Coronation on a big screen. We then hot footed it straight to the Mall to watch the fly over (well as quickly as we could amongst the thousands doing the same), which, although reduced, was still great. I mean, who doesn’t love the red arrows?!
The following day I was one of the lucky 10,000 people to win two tickets to the Coronation concert at Windsor Castle. Wow! What a show. And in typical British style the weather was gorgeous and completely different from the day before. From international artists to incredible light displays, I can only describe it with one word and that was euphoric. We positioned ourselves just under the royal box, so we could see King Charles strut his stuff to Lionel Richie and Take That. It was certainly a night that I’ll never forget. Although there were many highlights to take away, one that will stay with me forever was the drone display, which put a spotlight on our planet and just how important it is to look after.
Seeing so many people, from all different backgrounds, enjoy some much-needed jubilation, reminded me of the hardship we have faced recently. It was lovely to see people come together across the UK with friends, family, neighbours and have a great time in celebrating something that in future years will be in hundreds of history books.
And how fabulous is it to be able to say that I was there on the streets of London and partying with the King!
