On Sunday afternoon, 26 July 1981, a mother and daughter unrolled sleeping bags along the Mall in London. The wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer would not take place until Wednesday the 29th. They were prepared to wait days for a procession that would pass in moments.
A contemporary Washington Post report identified them as Averil Harrison and her eighteen-year-old daughter Rosemary, visitors from southwestern England. They had brought food and secured a position a few hundred yards from Buckingham Palace, where the carriages would pass close by. Harrison made the trade-off plain: television would offer a better view, but it could not offer the experience of being there.
Source check: The Washington Post's report of 28 July 1981 documents overnight waiting in London to secure viewing places for the royal wedding.