Aussie royal super fan camps out for Coronation
An Australian woman is going to extreme lengths to watch the Coronation —and it’s not the first time she’s gone all out for the royals. See the video.
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She may be 81, but Aussie royal super fan Margaret Tinsley is not going to allow the small matter of her age get in the way of securing the best spot on The Mall to watch the King’s Coronation on Saturday.
On Tuesday night, Ms Tinsley, who is originally from Cobram in Victoria, but has lived in the UK for 54 years, was preparing for her first night of four on the concrete path.
Ms Tinsley, who is sharing the experience with her friends, was well wrapped up with a thick coat, scarf, and an Akubra hat decorated with a ring of yellow flowers.
Her protection in the predicted overnight lows of seven degrees was what most Australians would recognise as a half moon beach shade and a sleeping bag.
“Our top halves will be in there,” Ms Tinsley said, pointing to the undercover part of the shade. “And our bottom halves will be out (under the open sky).”
Even the prospect of a bit of rain on Friday and Saturday, and the lack of public amenities after 8pm, wasn’t going to dampen the mood of this happy camper.
After all Ms Tinsley is a pro at the royal camp out, having done it six times before, starting with the then Prince Charles and Lady Diana’s wedding in 1981, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson’s wedding in 1986, the 2022 funeral of the Queen Mother, Prince William and Catherine Middleton’s wedding in 2011, the Jubilee Pageant on the Thames in 2012 and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding in Windsor in 2018.
She only missed the Queen’s funeral, as she was out of the country.
Having done this six times before, Ms Tinsley knows how to do a royal camp out in style.
Their dinner on the first night was the very appropriate Coronation chicken with new potatoes, a meringue case filled with cream, banana and passionfruit and a glass of red wine.
The only issue was working out where to wash the dishes.
Having met Princess Anne several times and the late Prince Philip once, she has nothing but praise for the royals.
“I am a royalist because of the “tradition, the heritage, their devotion to the public and the good that they do,” Ms Tinsley said.
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