King Charles visits Front Royal, the hometown of Christendom College

Front Royal, the Northern Virginia town that’s the site of Newman Guide–recommended Christendom College, made the itinerary of the British royal couple’s brief visit to the U.S.

Aiden Miller, a Front Royal resident and a graduate of the Catholic liberal arts college, told Zeale News May 1 that it was an honor to welcome King Charles and Queen Camilla to the Shenandoah Valley town, which has about 15,400 residents. 

“I’m extremely proud of the event we put together to share with him a little part of our local heritage and culture,” he added, noting that he got to shake the king’s hand.

Just after 1 p.m. the king’s motorcade traveled down Main Street to cheering crowds waving Union Jack flags.

“It was kind of mind-blowing,” said Peter Lemmon, a parishioner of St. John the Baptist Church in Front Royal according to The Arlington Catholic Herald. “The king rode by with his window down, right in front of the office. It was a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”   

Tom McFadden, the institution’s vice president of enrollment, greeted the king and had a brief conversation with him, according to the Catholic Herald.

“I told him that I saw his mother at Windsor Castle in 1982,” McFadden said. “He seemed surprised and said, ‘Well, it’s good that it’s still carrying on at Windsor.’ He acted as if he had all the time in the world and asked people a lot of questions.”  

The Catholic Herald also reported that residents said the event eclipsed singer and actor Bing Crosby’s visit in 1951.

“When we told the British Embassy about Bing Crosby they knew who he was, but this definitely tops that,” Mayor Lori Athey Cockrell said. “We think it’s wonderful that they wanted to come here and see us real Americans.”  

Delores Oates, a representative in the Virginia House of Delegates called the event “a visit for the ages that will be remembered as perhaps the biggest day in the 238-year history of Front Royal.”

“I cannot tell you how much this means to our community,” said Oates, according to the Catholic Herald. “We are representing small-town America in a way that shows who we really are in this beautiful place where we live.”