Opinion: Mistaken for the long run King, I used to be left with egg on my face

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With the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla set for Saturday in London, I will likely be considering of the brand new monarch — and that day 14 years in the past in Montreal after I was mistaken for him at an indication downtown.

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It was Nov. 10, 2009. I used to be a reporter with the Montreal Gazette and had been pre-assigned, together with colleague René Bruemmer, to cowl the go to by Charles and Camilla to the Black Watch armoury on Bleury St., a part of their royal go to to Canada.

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In anticipation of my proximity to royalty, I dressed up in my light-grey Hugo Boss go well with. And I wasn’t shy about pushing into the center of a crowd of 150 Quebec nationalist protesters outdoors the armoury in order that I might interview a few of them. Up shut like that, at that second, there was no mistaking me for Charles. That might come later. I did the interviews, then waited close to the entrance door of the armoury for the royal couple to reach.

Charles and Camilla had been stalled close to Sherbrooke St. Police had arrested two of the protesters and the group had reacted by sitting down on Bleury in entrance of the armoury. Police fashioned a line on the north facet of the sit-in and the limo lastly changed into a laneway north of the armoury, and Charles and Camilla had been in a position to get inside by a service entrance.

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The media had been escorted inside and all of us stood in a single nook as Charles, trying calm, and Camilla, trying nervous, walked alongside a reception line and had been launched to native dignitaries.

After a while had elapsed, I puzzled whether or not the protesters had been nonetheless there, maybe making ready for Charles’s exit. I wandered off alone and walked to the entrance door and opened it to look outdoors.

What occurred subsequent appeared to unfold in sluggish movement. I appeared up and noticed two eggs coming at me in a descending trajectory. Splat, splat! Then time sped up as a rat-tat-tat second and third volley of a dozen eggs or so got here at me. I appeared round me. I used to be alone outdoors the entrance door, a middle-aged man in a gray go well with, roughly the identical top and weight and hair color as Charles.

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The gang cheered wildly as my gray go well with turned yellow.

I turned and went again inside, closing the entrance door behind me. A lady inside noticed me screamed. She directed me to a washroom, the place I cleaned off as a lot as I might.

Bruemmer and I didn’t have plenty of house slotted to Web page 3 for our reporting, so we needed to play the information story straight.

“In his speech,” we reported, “Charles drew delicate laughter together with his comment concerning the ‘little native disturbance’ outside, then spoke warmly in English and French about his affection for the Canadian Black Watch.”

And my go well with? I solely requested that the Gazette choose up the dry-cleaning invoice, which was $25. The reality: I had picked up the used however completely becoming Hugo Boss 44 Common at Village de valeurs in Dollard-des-Ormeaux for $30. The dry cleansing didn’t get all these egg stains out, so I ended up simply throwing it out.

And whereas I now remorse having parted with this memento of my connection to royalty, I’ll be considering of Charles on Saturday, and that day again then after I took one on the chin (and chest and groin and legs) for the Crown.

David Johnston was the federal Commissioner of Official Language’s regional consultant in Quebec and Nunavut from 2014 to 2022. He labored for 33 years on the Gazette till 2014, concluding as editorial-page editor.