Charles and Camilla, the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, have arrived in Victoria. I missed out on the welcome at the Legislature this afternoon, though it was raining so I’m not sure it was worth getting soaking wet to say hi: I’ll see them later.

When, you ask? I’ll see them at church on Sunday. That’s right, Charles and Camilla will be attending my church on Sunday. They (or their people) sent word weeks ago that they would be coming to town and coming to the Cathedral, but we haven’t been able to say anything until about a week and a half ago when everything was confirmed.

I haven’t been a part of the planning process but it seems to have been a royal hubbub… Our regular Sunday consists of an 8am spoken Eucharist, 915 contemporary Eucharist, 1100 traditional Eucharist, and 430 Evensong. With the Royal visit, we are closing the church down after the 8am service for a RCMP sweep with sniffer dogs and issuing (free) tickets for one service of Morning Prayer. I have a ticket. I’ll be sitting with the rest of the 915 choir, close to the front (I think) and hopefully with a good view of the Royals. I even have a quasi-hat selected to wear so Camilla won’t be the only one.

As a part of security, streets around the Cathedral are closed and we all have to be seated by a certain time. Once we sit down, there is no getting up, even to use the washroom. No coffee for me that morning! I can’t even bring in my camera or cell phone, so there won’t be any photos for you to look at afterwards. Oh well, it will be an experience to remember as it is not every day one is able to go to church with royalty.