Penny Lancaster said that she was grateful that the crowd paid their respects properly and that there were no incidents. She attributed this to the great training and preparation that she and the other officers had received. Lancaster became a police officer after appearing on a reality TV show where celebrities swap their day jobs with emergency service professionals.
While thousands of people took to the streets to pay their respects to Britain’s longest-serving monarch, Lancaster was spotted in full uniform. Elizabeth passed away on Sept. 8 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. She was 96. “This is the biggest honor of all, to be able to serve today on Her Majesty the Queen’s funeral,” Lancaster told PA News Agency. “We were in uniform by five o’clock this morning, and we didn’t know what time we will be working until. We just want to make sure that all the crowds get home safely.”
Constable Lancaster noted that despite her “long” shift, she was honored to be able to pay her respects. Last week, Lancaster told “Good Morning Britain” that it was a great privilege to work at the queen’s memorial service at St. Paul’s Cathedral. She said that signing the oath of Office of Constable to Her Majesty the Queen was a wonderful opportunity and that her oath will now be with King Charles III.
In an interview last year, Stewart described his wife’s eight-month journey to becoming a cop. The couple married in 2007.
“She got absolutely absorbed by it and loved it,” the 77-year-old told People magazine. “She said, ‘I’m going to do this. I’m going to do all the training, all the exams.’ The nicest quote she said [is], ‘I want to give something back, fine, but I want to look after the city that I love, which is London.'”
“She’s a part-timer, she works one day a week and patrols the Tower Bridge around London,” the singer explained. “She makes arrests, and she’ll go out in front… She’s tough. She’s 6’2″. You can’t argue with a big blonde.”
