Cheers and tears greet a Landau made for two
IT WAS at once a touch of glorious pageantry and a radical departure from tradition.
Sweeping down from Windsor Castle in their open- top Ascot Landau carriage came the beaming newlyweds.
Curling past the Horse and Groom pub, the carriage straightened on to the High Street, detonating rapturous cheers from the eight-deep crowd, before reaching King Street and finally Long Walk, where the crowds were even bigger and more deafening.
This two-mile, 25-minute procession – the first for a Royal Wedding – belonged to the people.
It was their chance to glimpse Harry and Meghan, now the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, in the flesh rather than on the television screen. Some, of course, had camped out for days for this very moment.
The joyful couple didn’t disappoint. They were resplendent and just couldn’t stop smiling. They held hands – Meghan’s left in Harry’s white-gloved right – while waving constantly.
Among t hose who saw t hem head back to the Castle was actress Sue Holderness, 68, who played Boycie’s wife in Only Fools And Horses, that other great British crowd- pleaser. She said: ‘ It was the most glorious day. It ruined my make-up because they were so in love. To see the joy on their faces was incredible.’
Harry and Meghan were escorted by 24 soldiers from the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment in red tunics, scrupulously polished breastplates, helmets and boots.
Two of the horses at the wedding are named after towns in Afghanistan, Lashkar Gah and Musa Qala, where the regiment, including Harry, were involved in frontline combat operations.
One of the oldest regiments, the Household Cavalry dates back to 1660. Six horses, Windsor Greys, were in the procession.
The Landau carriage was the same one used at the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2011.