Coming from a country where the last king ever—Louis XVI—was executed by guillotine, I tend to see monarchy as somewhat obsolete and old-fashioned, although harmless if a Parliament is in place. We don’t hear that much about the Queen in Canada, and I’ve never been very interested in Royal Family gossip.
I still wanted to see Buckingham Palace though, as well as the area around it. Indeed, once you step on Constitution Hill, you feel like you enter another world. A high wall and barbwire protect the boundaries of the Palace and there seems to be CCTV cameras everywhere. Traffic lights have pedestrian-and-horse themed crossing lights. Cars are shiny and hordes of tourists are ready to press the shutter button as soon as they see a shadow moving inside the Palace.
Of course, you can’t step into Buckingham Palace. Besides, the Queen was in Ottawa when we were in London —awful timing, right? Yet, people get as close to the gates as they can, and take pictures of the guards instead.
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