Tourists walk around outside Buckingham Palace in central London yesterday
AFP/London

As the famed Changing of the Guards ceremony takes place behind them at Buckingham Palace, two American girls debate what Kate Middleton will look like at her wedding in five days’ time.
“I am excited about the dress. She will have something big”, predicts Amanda Hijazin, 13, wearing a lacy top and with braces on her teeth.
“No, something simple, graceful, elegant, fabulous,” her friend replies.
Looking at the palace in central London, the main balcony of which is where the couple where Kate and Prince William will greet the crowd on Friday, Amanda sighs: “It is so historical. I am not going to be here, but to know that they will be there, it is very nice”, she adds.
“The girls are fanatical about the prince!,” says Rebecca Adams, a teacher of English who is looking after the young Californians on their visit to the capital. “They are also interested in the younger prince”, she laughs, referring to William’s younger brother Harry, who will be best man at the wedding.
The teenagers wanted to stay for the wedding but it was impossible to change their tickets as the planes were full, Adams says.
“We will watch the wedding on TV. It will start at 2am (Los Angeles time) - I will set my alarm!,” says Amanda.
Adams remembers watching the wedding of William’s parents, Prince Charles and Princess Diana, on television in 1981 when she herself was at high school.
“A generation later, they will do the same thing,” she says about her students.
Crowds of hundreds of people around 50 deep were gathered to watch the ceremony in bright sunshine, far more than usual.
The hotly-awaited royal wedding is expected to more than double the number of visitors to London with an extra 600,000 tourists from home and abroad expected to flock to London for the service.
Tourists were also out in force outside Westminster Abbey where the royal couple will tie the knot on Friday but they were not allowed inside because services were underway for Easter.
“We wanted to see the church where they’re going to get married but it’s shut!” says Silvia Bosisio, an Italian woman who like many others had taken advantage of the long weekend to visit London.
“They’re a nice couple, it’s a shame we can’t stay for the wedding,” says the young blonde, who works in a wedding agency.
But there are no such problems for the Slade family from San Francisco, US. “We booked this trip to London in October so it is such a happy coincidence that it’s the same time as the wedding,” says Randy Slade, who is here with his wife and granddaughter.