This week, I was in the presence of royalty! Her Royal Highness (HRH) Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge (aka the FUTURE QUEEN OF ENGLAND if you don’t know who I’m talking about), was at the opening night of the West End show 42nd Street. The opening night was a fundraising event for the East Anglia Children’s Hospice charity, of which Kate is a patron. My flatmate Brooke heard the day before that she was going to be there, so we cleared our plans for Tuesday evening and became paparazzi for the night.
We arrived at Theatre Royal Drury Lane (yes, the same lane as the muffin man) at 6 pm for the 7:30 show and waited about an hour until Kate showed up in the royal Jaguar around 7:10. With some shoving, we got to the very front of the gate, literally rubbing shoulders with the paparazzi, who were quite rude. Before Kate came, we witnessed other celebrities arriving, though I knew none which I saw (but I heard Morgan Freeman was among them).
Finally, the sound of police escort sirens announced the arrival of the Duchess. She got out of the car, her back to us and walked up the stairs to the theatre, turning around twice to give short waves to us behind her. Despite getting a short view, she looked UTTERLY STUNNING with her incredible red gown and flowing hair. She was like an angel from a dream. Even more perfect in real life than in pictures, if that’s possible.
We hoped Kate would stop by us in the front row by the gate, but she did little interaction with paparazzi or her fans. This is probably due to her husband William (THE FUTURE KING) being very protective of their privacy after the fate of his mother Princess Diana.
But fighting for the front row was worth it because I now appear in many professional photos from the night! Though a selfie with Kate would have been ideal, being in the background with Her Highness is now one of the highlights of my experience in London. I’m practically a princess now!
