Europe’s royals wait 20 minutes at world’s most exclusive bus stop

LONG after the coffin had departed on its long journey from Westminster Abbey to Windsor, a gaggle of minor European royalty were spotted waiting patiently for the bus to take them home.

While Liz Truss, the Prime Minister, and her predecessors, Sir Tony Blair and Sir John Major, and their spouses, were all driven off in official cars, there was a longer wait for some of Europe’s distinguished royals and dignitaries.

Those spotted in the queue waiting patiently for the coaches included Felipe VI, the King of Spain, Willemalexander,

the King of the Netherlands, with his wife Queen Maxima, Margareta, the Crown Princess of Romania, and Margrethe II, Queen of Denmark. Behind them were the German relations of the late Duke of Edinburgh, with Simeon II, the last Tsar of Bulgaria, who reigned from 1943 to 1946.

Also waiting patiently were Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister of New Zealand, with her fiancé, Clarke Gayford, and Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, with his wife, Sophie. Both couples had arrived by bus.

Eventually, after 20 minutes, large brown buses from Westway Coaches swept into the area outside the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey to collect them.

Westway, based near Hampton Court and the bearer of a Royal Warrant, describes itself as Britain’s first and only zero-emissions coach company which runs services solely on battery power.

Watching the queue were former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith – wearing a top hat – and Lord Strathclyde, a Tory former leader of the House of Lords.

Preferring to walk, the pair set off towards Marsham Street for a wellearned cup of coffee.