Bernadette Christie has been in the front row on some of the biggest royal events of the past decade.
She saw Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle enter the church on their wedding day, watching Queen Elizabeth passed by in a golden carriage and met Prince William. Now, the 68-year-old from Grande Prairie, Alta., is camping out in a tent for five nights in London to make sure she’s in the best position outside of Monday’s funeral.
“I wanted a seat in the front row, otherwise there was no point in putting all my energy into it,” she said.
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On Wednesday night, Christie was pitching her green tent in the shadow of Buckingham Palace, accompanied by a small group of royal followers who she jokingly referred to as “the daredevils”. In the coming days, she plans to move her tent as close as possible to Westminster Abbey, where the queen’s funeral will take place.
Together, campers help set up tents, share food, take turns guarding each other’s belongings and soak up the atmosphere of royal weddings, birthdays, jubilations and in this case, weddings. mourning. In addition to the small tent, Christie’s luggage included a bunch of Canadian flags. Her nails are painted red and white, and she showed off the Canadian flag poncho she wears at royal events.
Christie’s first memory of the queen was when she wore a Brownie uniform at the age of 7 to meet the monarch during a royal visit to Canada. She then followed the Royal Family for years through the queen’s Christmas messages, or joined the crowds during their visits to Canada, while raising four children.
Bernadette Christie, of Grand Prairie, Alta., slept along the fence as she and others camped out overnight in tents to watch all of the Queen’s funeral services take place near the gates of Buckingham Palace in London on the 15th. September.
Nathan Denette / Canadian Press
But when the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton – now the Prince and Princess of Wales – took place in 2011, she decided it was time to be direct.
“I said to my husband, ‘All I want for Christmas is a plane ticket to England,'” she said in an interview on Wednesday night.
Since then, she has returned several times, most recently for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in June. Each time, she goes camping.
She said her favorite memories include seeing the queen pass by in a rarely used golden freight van, and getting a good look at Middleton, Camilla, now Queen Consort , and the royal children passed by in a car.
“Seeing those little babies, just knowing they didn’t ask to be born in them,” she said.
Christie says camping allows her to see things many others don’t: late-night ceremony rehearsals, early-morning trips to and from the Royal Family, and sometimes the royals themselves admit. But the main reason she does it is to get as close as possible to what she considers important historical events.
Instead of what she gets to see, “it’s more of what you feel,” she says. “You feel everyone’s mood.”
Camper Maria Scott, from Newcastle in northern England, said her passion for the Royal Family started with Diana, the late Princess of Wales.
“There is an aura about her and she really connects with people like me,” she said. “She’s been through what we’ve been through.”
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Scott has since managed to be present at the major milestones in the lives of Diana, Prince William and Harry’s children. She camped out at their wedding and for the birth and baptism of Prince William’s three children.
“Watching it on TV is not fair,” she said. “You have to be here.”
Christie said she has met many friendly people who stop by to offer food, help with setting up a tent, or simply to chat. She and the other campers also quickly became friends, she said.
That doesn’t mean it’s not difficult. London’s wet weather means she gets wet – often. And midnight marching rehearsals, while enjoyable, are not entirely conducive to a good night’s sleep. The tent must also be taken down early in the morning by order of the authorities.
On Thursday afternoon, Christie could be seen sleeping soundly on the ground beneath her Canadian flag, oblivious to the hundreds of people watching just a few feet away.
She had said the night before: “It’s getting stressful, you’re freezing, you’re getting wet. “But it’s very interesting.”
Christie plans to return to England to crown King Charles III, but she thinks it might be the last time. However, she admits she has said it before, after a particularly cold and wet period at the Queen’s celebration. Right after that, she said, she went out and bought the new tent she was sleeping in.
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