King Charles given Telegraph reader’s flowers after she survived …

Izzy Clemson gave King Charles flowers outside an art school in Kennington in January 2013 - a bouquet that was intended for her following a serious cycling accident. The Masters post-grad, 39, had been hit by a lorry while cycling from Vauxhall to Putney a week prior to her royal encounter. She suffered a broken collarbone and bruising to her face.

"It was a terrible accident, I was dragged underneath, and I had all the paramedics, there was even an air ambulance," she said. Izzy added that she felt fortunate to survive "one of those classic London bike accidents" - the kind that would see Boris Johnson, London mayor at the time, introduce a major expansion of bike-only lanes[1] following a spate of deaths. "All kinds of things I felt remarkably lucky about in the end because it should have been one of those horrible accidents, and it wasn't," she continued.

A friend from university gifted Izzy the get-well-soon flowers after her accident.

The friends, who had met for coffee, were drawn to a crowd of photographers and onlookers near Kennington tube station on their return home. Still clutching the flowers, Izzy was ushered to the front of the crowd on the understanding the bouquet was intended for the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall. The Royal couple descended the steps of the City Guilds of London Art School, and Izzy was one of the first to greet King Charles.

"It was hilarious because we'd only been there about four minutes, so it was this slightly whirlwind experience, and he went to receive my flowers and I had no idea what to do, so I just handed them to him," she said. Charles noticed that her arm was in a sling and said: "It looks like it should be me giving you the flowers instead." He then commented that the oversized, faux-fur coat she was wearing "looked rather warm". "I was probably a bit of a blithering wreck," Izzy said. "I had no idea what was happening, and I think I just sort of laughed and said 'Oh not at all.'"

All the while, her friend was "busy wetting herself watching me speak to him".

'It was bizarre'

Reflecting on the day's events, Izzy said: "It happened in the time frame of about eight minutes, from walking around the crowd and wondering what's going on to suddenly presenting Prince Charles with a bouquet. It was bizarre. "It was all the stranger when I stepped away and thought about how I had spoken to royalty."

The encounter left Izzy bewildered and bouquet-less. Nonetheless she acquired a new-found respect for the monarchy - she was struck by "how conversational, courteous and gently spoken" the King was and said the interaction did not feel in the least bit awkward. After a wobbly four years following her accident, Izzy was finally able to get back on her bike.

She now enjoys cycling with her children, mostly around Bournemouth's coastline where she lives and works as a trainee youth worker apprentice for Christ Church, Westbourne.

References

1. ^ expansion of bike-only lanes (www.telegraph.co.uk)
2. ^ here (www.telegraph.co.uk)