I have my crown, rather resplendent
and then my whistle, with all my buttons on, like jewels.
But I bet the old Royals don’t know how to do this.
We had to move away ‘cos the rent we couldn’t pay
the moving van came round just after dark.
Well you can’t trust the specials like the old time coppers
when you can’t find your way home.
Get off me borough.
I’m Diane Gould, I’m the Pearly Queen of St. Pancras, part of the Pearly Royals.
My royal duty as a Pearly Queen is to go and raise fun and funds for charities.
The Pearly Royals date right back to Victorian times
among London’s fruit and vegetable sellers known as ‘costers’
and a local orphan and rat catcher called Henry Croft.
Legend has it, he stumbled across a shipwrecked crate by the Thames
filled with 60,000 pearl buttons.
He sewed them all onto an old suit and used it to raise money for his orphanage.
The suit was such a success that he got his coster friends involved too
appointing a Pearly King and Queen to all 28 London boroughs
to raise money for local charities.
The titles are handed down through families.
My great grandad was George Dole
the first Pearly King of St. Pancras, and they had seventeen kids.
My grandad Alf became the Pearly Prince
and then my dad Alf, named after his dad
was the Pearly King of St. Pancras.
I became the Pearly Queen of St. Pancras.
My sons Terry, Lee and Simon are the Pearly King and a couple of Princes
and my grandchildren are the Pearly Prince and Princesses of St. Pancras.
Does that make sense?
We like to support royalty at jubilees, coronations
and so we bumped into them over the years.
A few Pearlies got invited to a celebration, and the Queen came along
and she looked at us like that, I gave her the thumbs up
and the old Queen mum
she was a girl.
As in any families, you get the ups and downs
so the Royal Family aren’t any different.
All I can say to Charlie, our lovely King Charles, is just stay grounded
and listen to your heart - your jam tart.
This is one of dad’s Pearly suits, it was the main one that he liked to wear.
You’ve got a ship on the back because he was in the Merchant Navy
and a crown.
My son Terry was in the RAF.
Hang on, let’s go to the hats.
OK, so that’s one I just got off eBay.
That came off an original Pearly Queen’s suit, it was my friend Jimmy’s.
Different styles of Pearly hats, haute couture, innit?
Millenary, that’s the word.
The suit I’m sitting in
is the one that I sewed, started 40 years ago, and just added bits and took bits off.
I’ve got fish on my suit, we used to eat fish and jellied eels, lovely jubbly, right?
A horseshoe for luck, and I’ve also got a symbol of Great Ormond Street on my skirt.
The symbol of the charity that we represent.
Where we do parties or
we’re going out and about, buttons get lost
so you’re always sewing on more buttons, and then I might think
“Oh, I want to put a different symbol on there.”
Basically it’s an ongoing piece of work.
Diane now lives in East Sussex
but she regularly makes royal visits to her realm.
London - the old oak - smoke.
To be able to walk along the streets, it’s quite a privilege when people come up.
It’s just holding their hand. It’s very deep and meaningful
because some people look and me and go, “what’s this all about?”
And I just say, “it’s about love”.
I might not know you, but I get to know you
and to me Pearlies symbolize that connection with each other.
The Pearly motto is ‘one never knows’.
It’s very meaningful because in life, as we’re all aware, one never knows.
I get quite emotional about this, because through life’s ups and downs
you need good friends, and family in between, and that’s what counts.
It’s sharing the good times as well.
Coming together, socializing, having a good vibe.
Nothing better than to go to the pub with a beer
and having a good party and singsong.
Up the stairs, and through the door
in to see me dear old wife.
A pint of beer for supper, then off to bed
oh what a wonderful life I have.