Special constable Penny Lancaster has revealed how she was on "alert" to protect the public as part of the police force working at the King’s Coronation.
The former model and TV presenter, 52, who is married to Sir Rod Stewart, began volunteering with City of London Police after appearing in Channel 4 show Famous And Fighting Crime, in which celebrities swapped their day jobs with those of emergency service professionals.
She later completed her training to become a special constable in April 2021.
Penny talked to ITV’s Good Morning Britain about her role looking after the crowds at the Coronation on Saturday, 6 May.
“So there were two barriers, so the crowd were behind two barriers with the Met officers within the crowd, and they had armed forces, it was well covered," she said.
“Our main message to us was to be smart and look smart, and to be alert and just to inform our inspectors and those officers in the crowd if we saw anything suspicious but luckily it was a fantastic atmosphere.”
Penny added that they had also been briefed about “some of the dangers that could occur”, including horses getting spooked and said that “if someone attempted to come over the barrier, I would have most certainly intervened”.
She also explained to GMB presenters Ed Balls and Kate Garraway how her protection differed to that of the main police force. “We worked very closely with the Met, and they were in full PPE protection," she said.
“They had their armour and batons and handcuffs, whereas myself and the officers that were on the route itself, were in our very smart tunics. We didn’t have that type of protection."
There were around 11,500 police on duty in London on Saturday, with Penny explaining her shift ran from 6am to around 4pm.
She detailed how she was “really, really proud of our Royal Family and the connection that they have around the world”.
In September last year she took to the streets of central London as part of the policing operation for the Queen’s funeral procession.
She was spotted keeping order outside the RAF Northolt in west London, where the plane carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth was expected to arrive.
The former Loose Women panellist was seen helping someone in a wheelchair with a dog and marshalling a crowd of people gathered in the rain at the site.e rain at the site.
Penny continued to be on duty throughout the week and at the Queen's funeral itself, which she called an "historic moment".
Penny recently renewed her wedding vows to veteran pop star Rod in Sydney, Australia.
The pair married in 2007 and first renewed their vows for the first time around their tenth wedding anniversary in 2017 at their 18th-century Essex home surrounded by over 100 guests.
Rod has spoken in the past about how much he loves his wife saying: "Penny is my whole world. Love means many things to many people but to me, it's wanting to share everything with the one you love and I love Penny now more than ever if that is at all possible."
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