A Welsh couple are getting ready to watch their second coronation as a married couple - 70 years after watching their first. Albert, 93, and Kathleen Ormrod, 89, watched the late Queen's coronation together in 1953 and are celebrating their Platinum wedding anniversary in another Coronation year.
North Wales Live says that the devotion which the couple, of Llandudno Junction, Conwy County Borough, have shown each other is reminiscent of the love between Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II. And it's set to last all the way to another Coronation - of King Charles III and Camilla as Queen at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, May 6.
Granddaughter Katie O'Reilly told North Wales Live how her grandparents' romance first bloomed at Trafford Park in Manchester in summer of 1952. She said: "A friend at work told Albert that he had got a date with this beautiful girl called Kathleen from Sale and asked if he would come on a double date with her friend.
"Albert was not very keen until he saw a photo of his friend's date Kathleen. Albert fell in love with the photo of the girl immediately.
"Needless to say he went on the double date and when he laid eyes on Kathleen he knew she would become his wife. Albert took Kathleen aside and asked if it was serious with his friend to which she replied, 'No, we are just friends'."
But their first proper date almost ended in disaster. Katie said: "Albert then asked Kathleen to meet at the pictures the following weekend.
"Kathleen - who was now smitten with Albert - was very excited to meet him but there was a mix-up. Albert was at one picture house and Kathleen was at another so both left that date feeling like they had been stood up.
"Albert was not having this and remembered Kathleen had mentioned her friend who worked close to him in the bacon factory. Albert then went on a mission to find said friend at the bacon factory.
"Found her and asked her to give Kathleen a note, with another date hoping she would turn up. She did and the rest is history."
They married in March 1953 in Sale and soon had two daughters, Elaine and Carolyn. Katie added: "They have very fond memories of the Coronation and followed Her Majesty ever since, very much relating to her and her love story. They remember watching the coronation on a neighbour's television with the rest of the street as that neighbour was the only one with a television at that time."
Albert retired at the age of 54 and they moved from Manchester to North Wales where they have lived happily to this day. It's fitting then that the song Albert has always sung to Kathleen from their courting days until now is Unforgettable by Nat King Cole.
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They are celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary on March 28 and are having a celebratory dinner at Maenan Abbey in the Conwy Valley with their close family.
Kathleen has kept the cake decorations from her original wedding cake and granddaughter Katie will put them on top of the 70th anniversary cake she is making.
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