At 11am yesterday, Yona Maarek, 15, was checking her notes on the role of the monarch ahead of that afternoon’s GCSE exam in citizenship.

An hour later, she was running down the road from Tiferes High School for Girls to see the real thing step out of the state Bentley. ‘I’ve just been revising him!’ she exclaimed.

Beyond a tight cadre of police and local civic leaders, there had been no knowledge of a royal visit to Golders Green. 

It was only when police barriers started going up next to Grodz’s cafe and bakery shortly before midday that word started to spread about a royal VIP. Within half an hour, Golders Green Road was impassable.

It is hard to overstate how much yesterday’s surprise appearance by the sovereign meant to this corner of north London, not to mention the wider Jewish community.

Golders Green is still absorbing the shock of a man travelling across the capital to stab two random Jewish strangers in separate incidents on these streets on April 29.

That followed nearby attacks on a fleet of ambulances belonging to the Jewish charity Hatzola and another attack on a memorial to the victims of the Hamas atrocities on October 7, 2023.

Compounding the pain of this rampant anti-Semitism has been the subsequent media whataboutery stirred up by anti-Zionists pinning the blame on Israel. 

King Charles III shakes hands with wellwishers in Golders Green in north London. The visit comes after a series of antisemitic attacks

The King meets stabbing victim Michael Shine and his sister Doreen during his visit 

It’s a point lost on a fearful community of loyal, law-abiding British citizens who simply wish to go about their daily lives without being killed for their religious beliefs.

And nothing in recent times has raised their spirits like the sight of the King popping up in London NW11.

He arrived shortly after midday at a Jewish Care retirement home, to meet the victims of the latest attack and also those who stopped it.

‘He didn’t let go of my hand. It was amazing,’ said Michael Shine, 76, who had been stabbed in the neck. ‘I felt a genuine warmth.’

‘You were very courageous,’ the King told Yonathan Elkouby, 33, who had been in a meeting on April 29 when he got word of an attack nearby. He cornered the attacker with his car then helped pin him to the ground.

Mr Elkouby belongs to Shomrim, a local neighbourhood watch organisation armed only with walkie-talkies. 

Yesterday, it was one of several groups invited for a royal chat, including the Community Security Trust, the national charity which combats anti-Semitism.

Its members were thrilled, two months ago, when the King agreed to become its patron. ‘And now we have a day like this – it means so much to everyone,’ said deputy chairman Sir Lloyd Dorfman, an old friend of the King.

By the time the royal visitor emerged on to the street, people were clinging to lampposts with crowds ten deep. Hundreds had somehow climbed on to the balustrades above Leon’s fruit & veg and an impeccably-named gift shop, Royal Judaica.

It was an endearingly old-fashioned scene of the sort we used to get back in the days when local papers (RIP) would print royal itineraries days in advance. Modern security concerns have stopped all that – and this visit had involved more security than most. 

King Charles greets a large crowd in Golders Green to show his support for the Jewish community 

Yet Golders Green (understandably) maintains an excellent local communication network. Here was a proper bunfight. And that is just how the King likes his walkabouts.

Some applauded, others sang the national anthem. ‘We are all royalists here,’ said Jude Colman, 49, who reads the traditional prayer for the monarch and the Royal Family at synagogue each week. 

Local rabbi and podcaster Aubrey Hersh broke into a different prayer. ‘It’s the prayer we say when we have seen a King,’ he explained later. ‘It means that God has given of God’s honour to royalty.’ He and the King then discussed their mutual friend, the late Lily Ebert, one of seven Holocaust survivors whose portraits now grace the Royal Collection.

Local schools appeared to have decanted during their lunch hour. ‘I told him I’d come straight from my Maths GCSE,’ said Ayala, 15. ‘He said: ‘If you don’t pass, you can blame it on me!’

The King eventually squeezed his way inside Grodz’s for a loaf of Challah bread, then squeezed his way back out to the Bentley.

After his departure, more than a dozen police officers formed an orderly queue to buy coffees – at which point, a passer-by forced his way to the front of the queue. ‘Don’t you let them pay,’ shouted Avi Feld, 67, at the woman on the till. ‘I’m getting these! These are our protectors.’ 

Though unconnected, the King’s visit was underpinned by a message from Prince Harry yesterday.

Writing in the New Statesman, the Duke of Sussex warned of the ‘deeply troubling rise in anti-Semitism’ and acknowledged his own teenage stupidity in wearing a Nazi uniform to a fancy dress party in 2005. ‘I am acutely aware of my own past mistakes – thoughtless actions for which I have apologised, taken responsibility and learned from.’

‘That was very positive; very honest of him,’ said David Berger, 47, standing in the melee outside Grodz’s. ‘I have to say that, today, the support and words of the Royal Family mean a lot more to us than those of any politician.’