IT’S been almost ten years since Kate Middleton and Prince William tied the knot in a stunning ceremony at Westminster Abbey.
But while it might have looked every inch the modern fairytale from outside, there were some very real security concerns going on behind scenes.
Appearing on ITV’s The Day Will and Kate Got Married, Met Police Gold Commander Bob Broadhurst recalled how officers feared there was a car bomb outside Kate‘s hotel on the morning of 29 April 2011.
The night before the wedding, the Duchess, 39, stayed in the £5,000-a-night Royal Apartment at The Goring Hotel in London – which is just a short drive from Buckingham Palace – with her sister Pippa and mum Carole.
On the morning of Kate’s big day, officers noticed that a car had entered the secure zone which had been set up by the police to ensure the wedding party’s protection.
He explained: “This is a potential bomb, in a car, it’s so close to the entrance and exit from the Goring that we probably might not be able to get Kate and her party out on time.
Thankfully, the car – which had only been spotted 20 minutes before the Duchess was due to leave – simply belonged to a tourist who hadn’t noticed the signs.
The officer joked that the owner of the vehicle must have been baffled when they returned to find it no longer had any windows or doors AND a hefty parking fine.
He continued: “We had a secure zone around the Goring Hotel.
‘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 the car and legged it and joined the crowd.”
Describing how you could “cut through the silence with a knife”, the Met Police Gold Commander recalled how one officer joked that they should put some money on Kate being late as “Paddy Power are putting 10,000 to one that she doesn’t make the church on time”.
He added: “That kind of broke the ice and at which time, the explosive officers turned up.
“It wasn’t a bomb, and we were able to not only downgrade the threat but also say stick with plan A.”
In more Royal Family news, Brits want Prince William to become King over Charles when Queen’s reign ends, a new poll has revealed.
And Piers Morgan claimed Diana would be ‘horrified’ by Harry ‘splitting with William and smearing Queen’.
Plus Prince Harry and William ‘put differences aside’ to sign off Princess Diana statue.
