Royal Family superfan from Lincolnshire meets Kings Charles, Princess of Wales, and Prince Louis at Sandringham Estate

A Royal Family superfan from Lincolnshire has described her experiences meeting the King and heirs to the throne on Christmas Day.

Sharron Tonge, of Billinghay, is well-known for being a big fan of the royals, travelling to London in the early hours of the morning several times in recent years for events including the late Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee and funeral, as well as King Charles III’s Coronation.

She has also got up early on Christmas Day — before her family has even opened any presents — in order to make the 100-mile round trip to Sandringham to see the Royal Family head into church for the morning service.

This year, she and her daughter managed to get close enough to the front of the line of people waiting outside to meet the Royal Family that she was able to pass the Princess of Wales a bouquet of flowers, and a handshake from the next heirs to the throne:

“[Prince] Louis and the rest of the family were walking past and I had some flowers for [Princess] Kate and little Louis looked straight at me and he shook my hand with his little fingers and said ‘Merry Christmas’ to me and gave me a smile,” she recalled.

“I gave the flowers to Princess Kate and she gave me the most beautiful smile and said ‘good morning’ and I said ‘you look beautiful’ and she said ‘thank you very much for the flowers’”.

She even got a few apologetic words from King Charles himself as he was not close enough to reach her:

“We saw all the Royals on the way out, we saw them briefly on the way in but they were running a bit late,” Sharron said, “The King was walking by and approached the area where we were stood but there were a few people in wheelchairs in front of where I was stood, and he looked right at me and smiled and I held my hand out, and he said “I’m so sorry I can’t get to you” and burst out laughing, but gave me the most amazing smile.”

Sharron said that the atmosphere around Sandringham was “much more relaxed” than in previous years and they were just happy to stand and smile and engage with the crowd.

“It was absolutely fabulous”, she added.