Party time for abbey’s own Royal family of nations

Despite the cool wind which picked up in the early evening there was a lively mood with scores of Union flags flying.

The crowds of Royal enthusiasts formed a makeshift tent community – amid hopes that rain would not dampen the mood.

Earlier, the swelling ranks of fans and camera crews caused chaos outside the Abbey, creating traffic jams in the surrounding streets.

Traffic was brought to a snail’s pace on Victoria Street, the main road outside the abbey, and police officers were brought in to manage the increasing mass of people.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said camera crews in front of the tents had caused blockages on the road so they had used barricades to “separate the people from the traffic to keep everyone safe”.

The temporary tent village spread across the pavement opposite the abbey as the day went on, forcing the pedestrian pathway to a standstill.

Police officers were brought in to manage the flow of people and formed a pedestrian walkway on the main road using metal barriers.

Buses, lorries, vans and cars came to a brief standstill outside the Abbey as police implemented a one-way system for people on foot.

But despite the vast throng of people many spoke of their joy to be there.

Amanda Mahony, 48, from Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire, said she was pleased to be in London after she had missed the wedding of the Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer – because she and husband Clive, 51, had themselves been getting married on the same day.

She said she was an avid supporter of the Royal Family. “It is part of our heritage; it’s just tradition. It is something that we should all keep going very strongly,” she said.

“I know it costs us a lot of money but it funds the economy and it is great for tourism.”

Fellow camper Adinas Perkins, 48, said she had flown in from Atlanta in the United States, for the wedding and pitched her tent in Parliament Square yesterday afternoon.

Ms Perkins said her friends and family had warned her she would never find a spot in the crowd.

“It is an honour to be here and it is a blessing to have this opportunity.

“William and Kate are just real people. Kate goes shopping like everyone else does.”

Others had made shorter journeys.

Tracey Vause and her 14-year-old daughter Charlotte, had come from Leeds just to catch a glimpse of it all – and Charlotte was in her element.

“I love watching all the media. I want to work in TV and it’s so exciting seeing them all,” she says.

Her mother remembers the Royal wedding from 30 years ago.

“I was here in 1981 for Charles and Diana and I remember all the bunting, the flowers.

“It was lovely, and I wanted my daughter to experience that.”

A family from Bolton had been given permission by their daughter’s headteacher to take her out of school for the “historic trip to London”.

Sue Taberner, 41, and husband Phil, 40, said they wanted to educate their daughter, Jenny, eight, on the history of the Royal Family.

The family flew to Heathrow yesterday morning in order to join the crowds.

Mrs Taberner said: “It is just such a big occasion. It is probably the only King and Queen we will see. It is nice to celebrate when there is so much doom and gloom around. We focus too much on everything bad in the world.”