'Town Crier' at Royal Baby's Birth Was Just a Party Crasher Who Fooled Millions

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
by Nicole Fabian-Weber 14 hours ago

Tony AppletonHey, remember that time the town crier announced the birth of the royal baby? He stood in front of St. Mary's Hospital, dressed in his traditional garb, gave a speech, rang his bell, and all the U.S. journalists standing in front of him were like, "Whuuuh? Nobody told me about this part." Well, he was just a party crasher. There was some on-air debate between reporters as to whether or not he was legit (I happened to be tuned in to Natalie Morales and Matt Lauer's back and forth -- they didn't think he was the real deal, FYI].) And, yep, turns out he's just a royal family superfan, like you and me.

Town criers. They're just like us.

His name is Tony Appleton, and he is a town crier, but he has no affiliation whatsoever with Kate Middleton, Prince William, or anyone in the royal family. He lives in Romford, England, not London, and he's a self-proclaimed "royalist". "I was not invited," Appleton told Yahoo in an interview. "I just crashed the party. I got out of my cab and I stood in front of the steps, because I didn't think I would be allowed on them, and I did my bit. It was great."

For those of you who missed Tony's bit, or were too confused to process what he was saying, here's what he read off his scroll:

On this day, the 22nd of July in the year 2013, we welcome, with honorable duty, a future king, the firstborn of Their Royal Highness the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the third in line to the throne. And our new prince is the third great-grandchild of Her Majesty the Queen and the grandchild of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. May he be long-lived, happy, and glorious, and one day reign over us. God save the Queen!

While it's slightly odd that Appleton decided to appoint himself the crier of the event, the guy didn't hurt anybody and he got to live out a dream. So that's cool. But I'm kind of wondering where security was. You'd think if a man or woman who wasn't supposed to be screaming crap started screaming crap, he or she would be hauled off. You'd think the guards would be informed of every little thing that was going to happen throughout the day. Everyone just stood there and watched Appleton -- and they let out a massive applause afterwards. Kinda weird.Thankfully, Tony wound up being a normal(ish) person who meant no ill-will to anyone. He simply wanted to get in on the festivities of the day and demonstrate his love for the royal family -- and demonstrate he did. This, for sure, will be one of the many things we remember when we look back at this moment in history.Tony Appleton, ladies and gentlemen.Did you think the town crier was real?Image via Jeff J Mitchell/GettyClick "Like" for more on the Royal Family.
?