London — It took months of careful planning for Prince William and Kate Middleton’s 2011 royal wedding but in ITV documentary The Day Will and Kate Got Married, an ex Metropolitan Police commander spoke about how Scotland Yard faced a worrying situation on the big day. The police discovered a suspicious car parked out at The Goring hotel in London where the bride was staying on the morning of April 29, 2011 during William and Kate’s nuptials.
Fortunately, nothing happened but there were times of crisis at the police headquarters as explosions officers tried to investigate if there was a hidden bomb in the car, according to Hello Magazine.
“We had a secure zone around The Goring hotel,” former Metropolitan Police commander Bob Broadhurst said in the documentary, adding that the police had arrested 20 people, who they deemed “known anarchists”, in the lead-up to the royal wedding.
“I don’t know how it happened and I don’t really want to know how it happened to this day, but somebody in a car got through the secure zone, drove up close to The Goring, just around the corner, got out of the car and legged it. And joined the crowd.”
“Now we have a real problem,” he recalled. “This is a potential bomb in the car. It’s so close to the entrance and exit to The Goring, that we might not be able to get Kate and her party out on time. It was 15, 20 minutes before her due departure time. You could cut the silence with a knife as we tried to solve the issue.”
After the initial scare, Broadhurst explained: “Our explosions officers had turned up, it wasn’t a bomb, so we were not only able to downgrade the threat, but also stick to plan A. Let’s go for it and get her out.
“I think that poor individual, whoever it was, maybe a tourist, came back to find their car with no doors or windows and a parking ticket.”
Thankfully, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s big day went off without a hitch. Approximately 1,900 guests attended the ceremony at Westminster Abbey and followed by a lunchtime reception hosted by the Queen at her home, Buckingham Palace. During the evening, Prince Charles hosted a night of dinner and dancing at the palace for the royal couple’s closest loved ones. /TISG