'Absolutely magical' moment Rutland woman kisses the hand of King Charles III

A Rutland woman who kissed the hand of King Charles III outside Buckingham Palace has described the moment as being "absolutely magical".

Vicky Binley, from Oakham, made the journey to London with some work colleagues to lay flowers and pay her respects to Queen Elizabeth II, following her death on Thursday, September 8, 2022.

After making their way towards the palace, her legs "turned to jelly" when the new King and Queen Consort Camilla pulled up, got out of their car and began shaking hands with the crowd.

As the monarch got to Vicky, she was able to share a few words with him as well as shake and kiss his hand, as he made his way around the thousands of mourners at the palace.

She said she felt blessed to have met the King.

She said: "The girls that I work with, we all went down to London just literally to take some flowers down and pay our respects.

"Unfortunately we couldn't get any flowers, everywhere had sold out or there just wasn't anywhere to buy any.

"A very kind lady gave us a bunch that we took and put our little notes in and handed them to a policeman to put down.

"I said what we will do is stand here pay our respects, just stare up a Buckingham Palace and just be in our own thoughts."

Vicky said some activity started the other side and police came in moving people putting flowers down.

She said: "I asked the police and they said 'stay where you are you are in a good position'.

"A few minutes later the blue lights arrived, the car swept up and out got King Charles and Camilla.

"At that moment my legs were jelly, I was just like wow, my whole body was just like, I couldn't believe what we were seeing and what we were experiencing."

She said King Charles III came out of the car and started to walk down the line and "without exception" he shook everyone's hands.

Vicky said: "He got to us and came to me and I just shook his hand and I said God bless you and God bless your family, our love is with you all and he said 'thank you i've been dreading this'.

"He just looked so bereft and heartbroken. He's just lost his mum and suddenly he is on public display trying to hold his emotions in check, but you could see that raw emotion on his face.

'Something inside me just came through and I just wanted to hold him and hug him and tell him it would be OK.

"In a moment of madness, I grabbed his hand and just gave it a big kiss.

"I think he was a bit taken aback, I think I was a bit taken aback and then he kind of moved on and Camilla came along and we all shook her had as well.

"It was an absolutely magical moment and I just feel extremely blessed to have been in that position in the right place at the right time."