Queen amused by suggestion US politics is ‘never boring’

The Queen appeared amused by the suggestion US politics is “never boring” as she attended a service to mark the 650th anniversary of the Guild of St Bride at the “journalists’ church” in Fleet Street.

Based at St Bride’s Church in the City of London, the guild, of which Camilla is patron, received its royal confirmation from King Edward III in 1375.

Wearing a dark green blazer and skirt with a feathered hat, the Queen joined the congregation for a service recognising the guild’s work, before greeting journalism students supported by the guild’s bursary.

In the church crypt, Camilla met Rozina Sabur, national security editor at The Telegraph and a former recipient of the £4,000 bursary awarded to students studying journalism at City St George’s, University of London.

When Ms Sabur told the Queen she had spent eight years covering US politics in Washington DC before taking up her current role, she replied the task sounded “very interesting”, prompting laughter.

“Yes, never boring,” Ms Sabur replied.

“Never boring,” the Queen echoed, with a laugh.

Charlotte Galea, 23, from Chatham, Kent, is the latest recipient of the bursary and is studying for her master’s in journalism.

Hearing of Ms Galea’s hopes to write features or opinion pieces, Camilla replied: “I hope it goes well, I’m sure it will.”

“It was very surreal,” Ms Galea said of meeting the Queen.

“I commute to uni, so I woke up this morning in my mum’s house in Kent, got the bus to the train station, and I was like, ‘I’m going to be meeting Her Majesty’.

“She was really lovely, really, really kind. Very ordinary, exactly what you would want from a royal.”

Ms Galea said the bursary means “everything” to her, adding: “I wouldn’t be able to get into journalism without it, it’s so closed off to people who don’t have money.

“It was a lifeline really. I feel so equipped to go out into the world and do the things I really want to do.”

The church has long had links with the royal family.

The late Queen Elizabeth attended its 1957 rededication service with her husband, the late Duke of Edinburgh, to mark the bombed-out church’s restoration after the Blitz.

In 1975, the King, then Prince of Wales, attended a service to commemorate the guild’s 600th anniversary.

The church rector, Rev Canon Dr Alison Joyce, described St Bride’s as a “spiritual home” for printers and journalists.

In 1500, Wynkyn de Worde built London’s first printing press next to St Bride’s.

National newspapers soon followed the printing industry to Fleet Street.

Within the church lies a Journalists’ Altar, which commemorates those working in the industry who have died, are held hostage or missing.

The church holds an annual service to remember them.