One of the few things The Crown showed well is that Americans adored Princess Diana. Whenever she visited the US, she was greeted like a rock star. I’m sure that was true of Diana’s reception in every country, but Americans’ love for Diana was a particular thorn in the Windsors’ side. The Windsors were absolutely furious that Americans accepted Diana as a glamorous underdog, regardless of her title or marital status.
I’ve been thinking about Diana’s love of New York in particular because Diana’s ex-husband and his side-chick were in New York for much of Wednesday and they did NOT get a rock-star reception. The only time people lined any of the NYPD barricades was when King Charles visited Harlem. At all of C&C’s other events, no one turned up. No one cared. Town & Country even covered the overwhelming disinterest in Charles and Camilla at the 9/11 Memorial:
No one seemed to know what was going on as barricades blocked off access to the 9/11 memorial midday on Wednesday. More often than not, I was the one informing bystanders on why crowds had gathered on the corner of Church and Liberty in the Financial District, hoping to catch a glimpse of King Charles and Mayor Mamdani. At several points in the two hours before the King arrived, it felt like there were more journalists and cops than bystanders.
Still, many tourists hoping to visit the 9/11 Memorial—which features two large memorial pools in the footprint of where the Twin Towers stood—were disappointed that the King’s visit disrupted their plans. The security perimeter around the area was so large, it was hard to even see anything happening from where the barricades were set up.
Steve, in from St. Louis, came downtown to visit the memorial, but did not mind that he’d have to return later. “I’m not put out about it,” he said, but he did not stick around to try to see the King. Brian and Katie, visiting from Portland, were a bit annoyed about the disruption from their day as they had walked far to get there, and were only in town for a short amount of time. As was Sandy from California, who joked, “I flew as far as he did!” referring to the King.
From even farther afield, Fletch was visiting New York for just two days from Melbourne, Australia. “That’s really annoyed me,” he said, referring to the fact that he was unable to go see the museum when he had planned. He was most interested, however, in all the cops around. “New York security presence is insane,” he added. Another tourist, Jakob, from Austria, was more interested in the military presence than the officials they were protecting.
Theo, born in South Africa who now lives in Toronto, was in New York City with his wife and daughter. “Today was our day to come and see the memorial,” he told T&C. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to see and visit.” His daughter added, “It seems like the museum is open, but we can’t seem to make our way into it.” The King’s visit didn’t really impact them, Theo shared, but said it’s “interesting.” “We have a certain level of respect—I wouldn’t say we’re royal watchers, or followers, but there’s a level of reverence, to a certain degree,” he said. The Canadian trio did, however, decide to stay to see if they could see the King.
A few New Yorkers left their offices on their lunch break to check out the hubbub. Gianna, who works just down the street, heard from her office early this morning that there would be potential delays on the commute. “I’m not invested [in the royals],” she said, “but they’re notable people. It’s cool to say you saw them.” Of the crowd that had gathered, she noted, “It’s pretty remarkable, people actually care to see them.”
Of all the people I spoke too, only one—Karen, a 66-year-old woman from Staten Island—came on purpose. “I came down to see the King, since I was a little girl I’ve followed the royal family. I left work a little early to come here, just took the Staten Island ferry,” she said. “I just ran from the ferry!”
But despite the student onlookers and the workers on lunch, the bulk of those gathered near the barricades were undoubtedly tourists. Sara and her goddaughter Olivia, visiting New York from Conway, North Wales, had tickets to the 9/11 Museum at 1 p.m. but upon getting down to the area, learned the wouldn’t be able to use them. “We’ll find something else to do! We have been told we can go on a different day,” Sara said. The duo was surprised the King was in town; they thought he was only going to Washington, D.C. Back home in Wales, she said, “No one really pays much attention to them,” referring to the royal family. Olivia added, jokingly, “Not so long ago, he [the King] came 20 mins from where we live. So we do feel like he’s following us.”
There were also people interviewed who were much more excited to see Mayor Mamdani, and a handful of people said that it would be exciting to see Charles if only to say “I saw the king!” But yeah… New York is not Charles and Camilla’s town. It’s not their domain. Our photo agencies had more photos of empty barricades than they had of Charles and Camilla.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.
