Attending King Charles III's coronation a 'dream come true' for Victoria woman

A Victoria woman who travelled to London for the coronation of the King and Queen Consort Camilla this Saturday says experiencing the event firsthand will be a "dream come true."

Lauren Allan, self-described "total history nerd," says her interest in the Monarchy started when she was about eight years old, watching documentaries about the history of the Royal Family.

"Princess Diana is my idol, to be honest," Allan, 37, told CTV News from London. "My daughter is named after her."

Allan travelled to the U.K. with her husband and three other members of a medieval re-enactment group.

"After the Queen passed away we decided we're going to do this trip and it just so happened we planned for May and then we found out the coronation was happening," she said.

"It's a dream come true, literally, for me to be here during this."

The scheduled ceremony at Westminster Abbey dates back more than 1,000 years, when William the Conqueror was crowned in the royal church in 1066.

During the service on Saturday, Charles will be anointed with oil, receive the traditional symbols of the monarch — including the orb and scepter — and have the St. Edwards Crown placed on his head for the first time. Charles’ wife, Camilla, will be crowned as queen consort.

"I think it's a really neat institution to have something that is so old, that dates back 1,000-plus years," Allan said. "That's really special and interesting to me. And I love ceremony and pageantry as well."

The late Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in June 1953 was the first to be televised live.

The broadcast in black and white drew an audience of tens of millions in Britain and was later played to a worldwide audience.

In the age of streaming and social media, people will be able to watch Charles' crowning live — and in vivid reds, blues and golds — from virtually anywhere on the planet.

Allan plans to watch the ceremony from the coronation procession route.

"I've been dreaming of coming to this place since I was eight years old," she said.

A CTV National News special, titled "The King’s Coronation," will air live from London on Saturday starting at 1 a.m. PDT (4 a.m. EDT).

Viewers can watch the special on CTV, CTV News Channel and CTVNews.ca, along with the CTV and CTV News apps.

With files from The Associated Press