A County Durham nana showed her devotion to the royal family when she camped out in London for three nights to catch a glimpse of the King's Coronation.
Royalist Anita Atkinson didn't want to miss a second of the historic occasion and decided to travel to the capital a week early on Saturday, April 29 to be there for all the build-up. The 66-year-old initially stayed with her daughter in Muswell Hill before she headed down to The Mall on Wednesday to pick the perfect spot to set up camp and secure her place at the front of the crowd.
And her dedication paid off, with Anita managing to see King Charles and Queen Camilla up close as the Coronation procession made its way along the Mall on Saturday, May 6.
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Anita described seeing the King's golden carriage as a "perfect" moment, after spending 46 years of her life collecting 12,777 pieces of royal memorabilia.
"It was absolutely incredible," Anita said. "It was perfect. It was brilliant and everything I expected."
Anita, who was dressed from head to toe in Union Jacks for the big day, continued: "I went down on Wednesday morning and set up the tent. By Friday afternoon there were hundreds of tents all the way along the Mall.
"The best thing about the Coronation was the golden carriage, it was unbelievable. I also enjoyed seeing Princess Anne.
"I wanted to go to show my physical support to the Royal Family.
"Charles is a good man and I am happy to have him as the King and I'm happy to have Camilla as the Queen. I am looking forward to seeing them more and more."
Anita was joined by her granddaughters on the day of the Coronation and wanted them to be able to treasure the memories of the occasion.
"My granddaughters were there and I want them to be able to say to their own grandchildren one day that they were there when the King was crowned," she said.
"It is the dawn of a new age for the monarchy and we can see that Charles has already modernised the monarchy in the few short months of being King.
"It was heartening to see that people were interested, that they wanted to be there and wanted the King to see them supporting him."
She added: "That is what the monarchy does, it brings people together in a way that no political party can."
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