Working on the ‘big day’

WHILE scores of ‘Royal watchers’ will be glued to their TV screens, attend street parties or celebrate the Royal Wedding in some joyful or relaxed manner, spare a thought for Paul Sevenson from Artigarvan.

Paul, the son of Derek and Kathleen from Berryhill Road in the village, will be working, dressed in fully military uniform with a bearskin on his head with the Irish Guards.

But don’t feel too sorry for him, because with the exception of a small scattering of the great and the good from the Province who will be among the invited guests in Westminster Abbey, Paul will, quite possibly, be the only man from the north west of the Province to actually make it inside Buckingham Palace...because he is on security detail to the Queen.

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While some people may utterly hate not having the day off, for Paul it is a rare opportunity to rub shoulders with the cream of society and witness one of the country’s most historic days from close range. A quick chat with him and you soon realise that he’s totally chuffed that he is on duty - despite the fact that he will be toasted in his uniform if the warm weather holds out.

The eldest of five siblings (Anne, Vanessa, Julie and Stephen), Paul now lives in Aldershot, and his detail on Friday will be a very pleasant change to his most recent - he has just returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan.

He admits he is going to be the envy of a lot of people: “The Regiment got asked to do the Queen’s Guard and Headquarters looked for volunteers to do the duty. As soon as I heard that I went and put my name down for it, and I was lucky enough to be chosen.”

“I have been in Buckingham Palace on a number of occasions. We do the guard at Buckingham palace on a regular basis, but I just thought that it would be nice to be there on a momentous occasion. It will certainly be something to tell the children and grandchildren - that I was there on their wedding day,” he says happily.