King Charles III confers city status on Dunfermline Crowds to meet the King
HUGE crowds gathered outside Dunfermline City Chambers on Monday to greet King Charles III as he conferred city status on Dunfermline.
His Majesty the King and the Queen Consort arrived at approximately 11.05am with people arriving as early as 9am to be in with a chance of meeting Their Majesties and it was worth the wait as many got the chance to chat to the King, handing him flowers and shaking his hand.
One group that spoke to the Press had met while waiting in the crowd.
Sheila and Fred Blackie were up visiting from Galashiels and, by chance, were here in time to see the King. The pair met mum, Maryann Cessford and her daughter, Fernjade McLeod, her sister, Sheila Blackman, and her mum, Margaret McLeod, meaning that three generations of their family were at the event.
Maryann said: “It was an absolute privilege, it is once-in-a-lifetime for us to see that, especially when we’ve just had the passing of the Queen and now we have her son here. My daughter has seen it and my youngest is up the hill so she’s seen it.
“It’s just an absolute privilege and a proud day for Dunfermline.”
The group were front and centre of the crowd and Sheila Blackman got the chance to reach out and touch the Queen Consort, Camilla while her mum, Margaret, was able to hold onto the arm of the King.
Maryann continued: “We’re totally honoured to be here.”
Sheila Blackie added: “Camilla was tiny, she was just bigger than me and we’re wee! I just expected them to be bigger!”
As a group, they all compared how they expected the Royals to look in person with how they looked in real life, they all agreed that the Queen Consort looked gorgeous while King Charles looked like he had been somewhere sunny.
Fred and his wife Sheila were delighted at the friendliness of the crowd. Fred said: “It was just like when folk were queuing up to see the Queen, you could see how the crowd integrated together and got on. It was brilliant.”
James Boyd, who lives on Arthur Street in Dunfermline, also got a chance to meet the royal couple. After
calling Buckingham Palace and getting information on when they would be arriving at the Abbey, he managed to grab a bouquet of flowers before heading down at 9am.
He told the Press: “We saw the cars going up to the City Chambers, they arrived at around ten past 11 and they came back and walked all the way down. I had my hand out in case Camilla was coming first but it was King Charles.
“King Charles took my flowers and I said, ‘Your Majesty, I have flowers and brochures of Dunfermline’s history’ so I gave him the flowers and the brochures. When Queen Consort Camilla came up I said, ‘I’m sorry I don’t have your flowers, your husband has them!’ She said, ‘Oh that’s okay’ and went up into the Abbey.”
The patience of well-wishers was rewarded when King Charles and the Queen Consort came out and chatted to them after they left Dunfermline Abbey.
Birthday girl Elspeth Duncan, from Rosyth, was delighted to be able to chat to the Monarchs on her special day.
“It was wonderful meeting the King on my 75th birthday,” she said. “He said he was going to be 75 and Camilla said she was already 75. I had to come. It was a wonderful morning and a fantastic birthday.”
Catherine Gellan-Adams, of Comely Park, was also able to shake hands and chat with the special visitors. “They were very nice,” she said. “They are a sensible couple. My daughter is here from Australia and it has been the first time I have seen her since COVID so she was able to see them before she goes home tomorrow.”