Evening officer! Penny Lancaster to become Special Constable with City of London Police

Having policed in London during the state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II, former model and host of ITV’s Loose Women Penny Lancaster has now completed her special constabulary training programme. Lancaster proudly beamed during her passing out parade with the City of London Police, with husband Rod Stewart in attendance.

It means that Lancaster, 51, will now have identical powers to her regular full-time colleagues and work alongside them, but most special constabularies in England and Wales have their own organisational structure and grading system, which varies from force to force. Lancaster will have full police powers throughout the English legal system.

Penny Lancaster’s move from modelling and presenting to being a member of the police force stems from her time appearing on Channel 4 show Famous and Fighting Crime, a four part series in which five famous faces swapped their day jobs to become members of the Cambridgeshire Constabulary.

That show, which saw the celebrities get to grips with the training and effort required to be a volunteer police officer as they face situations they never imagined they’d confront, piqued the interest of Lancaster, who traded in her work with Loose Women to concentrate on being an officer of the law.

Many would have seen Lancaster in full police garb during the state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II, where she was one of a number of officers who were there to marshall the large number of visitors in London to attend the funeral. Speaking about her work during the state funeral, Penny divulged that “’This is the biggest honour of all, to be able to serve today on Her Majesty the Queen’s funeral.”

“I think it’s (the same reason) why every officer wanted to be here today, because we swore an oath to the Queen to serve in the office of constable. This is the biggest honour of all, to be able to serve today on Her Majesty the Queen’s funeral. We were in uniform by 0500 this morning and we don’t know what time we will be working until. We just want to make sure that all the crowds get home safely.”

When asked how her rockstar husband Rod Stewart felt about her new role with the City of London Police Special Constabulary, Lancaster replied: “He’s always supportive in whatever I like to venture into and with this in particular he realised the amount of enthusiasm and joy and reward I got from it.

“Of course, he worries about the natural risks involved but with the support I’ve got around me, and letting him know when I’m back at the station and safe to head home, he’s able to go back to sleep.”