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Getting ready for the coronation? Knitting your bunting, pickling your jams, strong-arming your barely-recognised neighbours to have a Brexit-y street party? The crowning of King Charles III on May 6 is a national event that many people thought would never happen. But it is. And to mark the historic day, Madame Tussauds waxwork museum has opened a special royal-themed experience, a kind of ‘Avengers Assemble’ of the House of Windsor.
‘The Royal Palace Experience’ brings together all your royal faves: alongside the King (who gets a new outfit for the occasion) and the Queen Consort (Camilla), are wax likenesses of the late Queen Elizabeth II, the late Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince and Princess of Wales (Wills and Kate), the late Princess Diana, and, erm, the really very late Queen Elizabeth I.
None of the family’s more recent black sheep has been allowed in to be part of the display, so no Harry and Meghan, or Andrew. The pictured corgis are also not included.
There is a mock-up of the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace, with several wax celebrities in attendance, including – we’re promised – Dame Judi Dench, Dame Helen Mirren, Sir Mo Farah and Lord Barack Obama. You also get the chance to pose with a posh afternoon tea for some austere Queen Victoria we-are-not-amused vibes with a scone.
In a city that seems wedded to all manner of VR and immersive experiences, this IRL waxy gathering might just have some genuine old-school charm, as befits an institution that hasn’t progressed much in a thousand years. Book now!
‘The Royal Palace Experience’, Madame Tussauds. Open now. With entry, from £36.
Gilbert & George (not featured here) have opened a museum dedicated to themselves.
We’re giving away 100 tickets to the Sony World Photography Awards this year.