Nineteen-year-old Estibalis Chavez is so desperate to attend the royal wedding that she staged a 16-day hunger strike outside the British Embassy in Mexico City. And that was just the start of her journey. The lack of food did not lead to an invitation for Chavez, but one lobbyist
loaned her $1,250 for a flight to London. “I didn't see it as something so drastic and dramatic," Chavez told the
BBC of her fast. "[People] said I risked my health for something many believe to be frivolous and silly. But, I think that for me, it was the only way to achieve my goal." Unfortunately, British customs officials would not let her into the country because she couldn’t provide an address where she would be staying in England. She is currently stuck in Spain, hoping a Facebook friend will wire her money to get to back London. “I have spent nights in the airport. I haven't had anything to eat some days, I have struggled to survive and now I will try to make it back to England," Chavez told
Reuters of her now unintentional fasting. “All this effort is worth it if I make it to London… I hope they don't consider me a danger. I simply want to attend the wedding and I don't intend to bother anybody.”
John Loughrey became the first royal wedding fan to camp outside Westminster Abbey, when he showed up across the road from the church with a sleeping bag on Monday, five days before the event. In his Union Flag hat and T-shirt, the 56-year-old Loughrey is prepared to camp all week in order to get a good view. As a huge fan of the late Princess Diana, he camped for three days outside the Royal Courts of Justice for the hearings of the inquest into her death. “I am sure Diana would be so proud of her son and Prince Harry who will be the best man, and I am sure she will be here in spirit,” Loughrey told the
Daily Express. “I want to always remember exactly what it was like to be here on the day. If it rains I’ll get wet but I’m staying here for the big day and then I might rush to Buckingham Palace for the kiss.”
On Tuesday, 76-year-old Terry Hutt of Royston set off for London to reserve a prime spot on the street outside Westminster Abbey for William and Kate’s wedding. Dressed down to his socks with the Union Jack, Hutt said the predictions of rain will not stop him. “I’m there for the royalists, I’m there for the queen, who has never done anything wrong,” Hutt told
Cambridge News. “I’m there for Diana’s children, who have grown up very nicely.” Although Hutt’s 72-year-old wife Joy joined him to sit out for Diana’s wedding, she said she would be staying home this time due to the weather forecast. “Anything having to do with royalty, you will find him there… he enjoys doing it, so I can’t really stop him,” she said. Hutt claims to have slept on the street as many as a dozen times for royal events.
At the ripe old age of 76, royal wedding fan Gwen Murray of Norfolk was the second person to arrive at Westminster Abbey to camp out for the big day. Murray said the wedding is important to her because she “grew up during the war and learned to respect the royal family,” as she told the
AP. She slept outside for Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s wedding in 1981, Prince Andrew's wedding to Sarah Ferguson in 1986, and Charles' second marriage to Camilla Parker-Bowles in 2005. But this time, she brought her two daughters along to share the experience.
Royal wedding mania has spread across the pond and some Americans are getting into the spirit by planning all-night soirees. California pub owner Golriz Moeini, for example, has scheduled a sleepless event in honor of the nuptials. She’ll have the wedding playing on seven television sets at her White Harte Pub when the ceremony begins at 2 a.m. local time—not to mention cake, tea sandwiches, roses, and Champagne to commemorate the occasion. “It’s so romantic,” Moeini told
The Washington Post. “Out of the blue there’s another beautiful princess wedding that we can look forward to. This is something to be excited about.”
