May Day licence to misrule for another 'king and queen'

Crowning of Jeffreys Street "commoners" is one of the many events planned for the bank holiday weekend

From left: Counsellor Richard Cotton, Anne Marie Salmon, Paul Watkins, Dominic Powers and street party organiser Lindsay Douglas. Photo: Ian Cook

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London resident Paul Watkins observed Saturday’s coronation procession and service with a discerning eye.

“I was taking notes for my own coronation,” he told The National.

On Monday, he will be crowned king of Jeffreys Street in Camden, where he has lived for 53 years.

His neighbour Anne Marie Salmon, who has lived on the street longer than any other resident, will be his queen.

A coronation procession, followed by a service officiated by a neighbour posing as the Archbishop of Canterbury, will celebrate the two residents to have lived on Jeffreys Street for more than 50 years.

Mr Watkins and Mrs Salmon will be crowned the street’s Lord and Lady of Misrule, an age-old English tradition under which a peasant was appointed king for the day.

Standing outside her front door, Mrs Salmon tried on her colourful floral wreath crown, and greeted the neighbours who stopped to say hello. "My sous chefs have come to pay their respects," she said.

“We’re taking our commoners and making them king and queen for the day,” said organiser Lindsay Douglas, another resident of the street.

It is one of the many street parties organised by London residents on the bank holiday weekend to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III.

Mr Watkins watched the official ceremony alone at home on Saturday.

“Most of my friends are Republicans, so they wouldn’t go to the pub to watch it with me,” he said.

But today, he is joined by his daughter and grandchildren, and will be at the centre of the Jeffrey Street party.

For the occasion, he is dressed in the fleet admiral's uniform, a nod to King Charles’s honorary appointment to the highest rank in the Royal Navy.

Outside his home, the street is full of bunting, which he and his neighbours spent days hanging.

The Lord of Misrule tradition, Mr Watkins points out, is actually a winter one with pagan origins.

It later became part of the Christian holidays — to celebrate the 12th night of Christmas, or Epiphany Eve — and was popularised by the Tudor and Elizabethan courts.

“Henry VIII thought it was hilarious,” said Ms Douglas.

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Shakespeare’s play The Twelfth Night echoes the Lord of Misrule and for this reason, the Globe Theatre hosts its own 12th night celebrations every year.

The street party will also feature spring-time traditions from another season of licensed misrule: The May Day celebrations.

These include dancing around a May pole, the crowning of a May queen and morris dancing, which Mr Watkins described as “a bunch of middle-aged English men dancing in long socks and silly shoes”.

On other days, Camden’s Jeffreys Street is a “normal London street”, said Ms Douglas.

“Everyone knows each other and is very friendly, we all take care of each other,” she said.

“There’s a few royalists on the street but most of us are just looking forward to having a fun day together."

Each household will bring a plate of food and drinks to share. A prize for the best cake will be awarded by the street's king and queen in the afternoon.

The street has been home to some of the city’s artists — including actor Rowan Atkinson and the late singer, Amy Winehouse.

Winehouse's coming biopic, titled Back to Black, will include scenes shot on Jeffreys Street.

“I didn’t see Amy very often; I remember seeing her once with that rather unattractive gentleman,” Mr Watkins recalled, referring to Winehouse’s former husband Blake Fielder-Civil.

Mr Watkins, a children’s book publisher, came to Jeffreys Street in the ’70s and plans to stay.

“All the services I need are here: Cycle shops, swimming pool, there's fantastic bus service and the Tube is just four stops away from Soho,” he said. “I used to go to the theatre a lot.”

Learning that Mrs Salmon, a retired French teacher, preceded him as a resident there, was a disappointment to Mr Watkins, who thought he had lived there longer than his neighbours.

“Anne Marie arrived here three years before me,” he said, rather disgruntled.

"I moved here in the 1960s when I came to London and haven't left. It was a cheap area to live in at the time, and then it became very fashionable," said Mrs Salmon.

Ms Douglas said the day was an opportunity for the street's residents to spend time together, following the restrictions introduced after the onset of Covid-19.

"It’s been a long time since we all got together,” she said.