Rod Stewart’s wife Penny Lancaster opens up about policing Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral
Penny Lancaster had “great training and preparation” to be part of the police detail on Monday for Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral.
“With all that planning going ahead, you can never quite predict how the crowd is [going to] react and the dangers that might lay ahead,” the British model and TV personality, who is married to Rod Stewart, told Sky News.
“But we’ve had great training and preparation and fortunately, everybody paid their respects in the proper manner, and we didn’t have any incidents to speak of,” the 51-year-old shared. “So I’m very grateful for that.”
Lancaster began volunteering for the force after appearing in the reality TV show “Famous and Fighting Crime,” where celebrities swap their day jobs with those of emergency service professionals. An inspired Lancaster went on to become a special police constable for the City of London Police in April 2021.
Lancaster joined an estimated 15,000 officers on the streets for the funeral, which took place at Westminster Abbey. Lancaster was spotted in full uniform while thousands took to the streets and paid their respects to Britain’s longest-serving monarch.
Elizabeth passed away on Sept. 8 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. She was 96.
“This is the biggest honor of all, to be able to serve today on Her Majesty the Queen’s funeral,” Lancaster told PA News Agency. “We were in uniform by five o’clock this morning, and we didn’t know what time we will be working until. We just want to make sure that all the crowds get home safely.”
The star noted that despite her “long” shift, “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”
“The focus is mostly on duty, but it also [was] a wonderful opportunity, and [I’m] very honored to be here to pay my respects at the same time,” she added.
Last week, Lancaster told “Good Morning Britain” that she was “very proud to be able to serve” during such a “historic moment” for the country.
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“It was a great privilege to work at the queen’s memorial service at St. Paul’s Cathedral on Friday,” she said at the time. “I signed the oath of Office of Constable to Her Majesty the Queen just over a year ago, April last year, and just as the seamless tie between Her Majesty and King Charles III, my oath will now be with the King.”
Last year, Stewart described his wife’s eight-month journey toward becoming a cop. The couple said “I do” in 2007.
“She got absolutely absorbed by it and loved it,” the 77-year-old told People magazine. “She said, ‘I’m going to do this. I’m going to do all the training, all the exams.’ The nicest quote she said [is], ‘I want to give something back, fine, but I want to look after the city that I love, which is London.”
“She’s a part-timer, she works one day a week and patrols the Tower Bridge around London,” the singer explained. “She makes arrests, and she’ll go out in front… She’s tough. She’s 6’2″. You can’t argue with a big blonde.”
The queen was interred alongside her late husband, Prince Philip, and her parents in Windsor Castle’s St. George’s Chapel.