Elizabeth Woolnough, of Toronto, will be staying in a flat near Westminster Abbey, above, when she goes to London to watch the royal wedding. (Stefan Wermuth/Reuters)
Elizabeth Woolnough, 46, of Toronto, is an IT analyst for the Ontario Power Generation. For year, Elizabeth kept her love of the Royal Family under wraps. That all changed when Prince William and Kate Middleton became engaged in November.
On July 29, 1981, I got up at the rather early hour of 5 a.m. - very early for a 17 year-old girl!
I was at that time a fervent admirer of the Royal Family, despite being brought up by two socialists. Snide comments from my father didn't stop me from writing to the Queen and cherishing her replies (or rather the replies from one of her many ladies-in-waiting). I would carefully glue them into my scrapbook, which I started at the age of seven.
I was mesmerized by the pomp and pageantry of the wedding of Lady Diana Spencer to HRH Prince of Wales. Her billowing dress, his tense looking jaw, the befuddled flower girls - all were fascinating for me. I secretly wished I could be amongst the crowds cheering on the royal procession. I vowed one day I would attend a royal event in person.
Cue 30 years later: I secretly read all the gossip I can about the Royals without openly admitting it. I try to act blasé, not wanting to appear like some middle-aged woman with nothing else to live for.
One day, I sent my friend Sue an e-mail suggesting that rather than getting up at 6 a.m. to watch the wedding on TV we should just go to London and watch it live. Well turns out I found another secret admirer - within 30 seconds she replied, "Let's do it."
Our first job was to find a place to stay. As it was early February, we both thought it would be hard. Neither of us wanted to share a room and a bathroom - at 17 it is acceptable, on the other side of 40 you want your own space. A work colleague suggested a letting agency. Sue promptly got in touch and within two days we had ourselves a two-bedroom, two-bathroom flat in Westminster - a 10-minute walk from Westminster Abbey. Luckily, air fares were still low and we got a good rate.
We both felt smug as we watched hotel prices in central London creep higher and higher as the wedding approached. According to some internet prices even the low budget hotels were charging 150 pounds a night.
Our first outing when we arrive in London is a champagne tea at the Dorchester Hotel. We also need to bring our fold up chairs to park ourselves near the Abbey all night. However, I plan to keep up to date as I have a feeling security concerns may prevent people from camping out too early - we can always get up very early (4 a.m.) and try our luck. Sue warned me that she is very cranky in the morning. Better put some brandy in that thermos of coffee!
Only a few more days to go before I live out my long held teenage dream of seeing a real live royal wedding!
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