Tomorrow marks the funeral of Elizabeth II, who died on 8 September. Queen Elizabeth II was 96 years of age and celebrated her Platinum Jubilee (70 years as queen) in June of this year. Most of us have never lived through any other monarchy leader for the United Kingdom, and she was regarded highly. On the day that she passed away, I was out of the country. I only returned on Wednesday, and I was gutted to have missed King Charles' arrival and the Queen's coffin, just down the road from me in RAF Northolt the evening before I returned. My neighbours had walked down to take photographs and videos, which they then circulated. People have been leaving tributes to the Queen in Green Park, Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, Windsor, and other places. There has also been a queue stretching across London for people to visit the coffin of the Queen lying in state. The queue is over several hours long. I think the longest the waiting time has been nineteen hours.
I've had jet lag after returning in the late morning on Wedesday, and it was straight to work from me as soon as I landed. I wanted to get up early on Sunday, but I ended up not being able to get up too early, though I did make it to London by around 8:40, and the queues of people entering the tribute garden in Green Park picked up in the time that I was there with a heavy stream of people entering from 10:00. At that time, they also closed off the queue to Buckingham Palace, so I missed visiting as they introduced a one-way system more than halfway down the length of the mall. They were obviously getting ready for the events tomorrow and the visiting world leaders.
Below are my favourite photographs of the tributes that I took in Green Park this morning. Some of the tributes were really good: a painting of the Queen, knitted corgis and queens, a sparkly panel of the queen's head (as appears on stamps), floral crowns, photographs, scrapbooks, and more. There were touching letters left by people; some had photographs with them and the Queen. Children and groups had created artwork to leave. There were balloons and handbags and hats. There were a lot of corgis and some horses, animals the Queen loved. One of the most common items were the Paddington Bears. This unlikely bear has become a symbol recently, which started with a touching video starring the Queen and Paddington Bear, which was made for the Platinum Jubilee. Paddington Bear has tea with the Queen, and they both share a love of marmalade sandwiches, which the Queen took from her handbag.
Before I end this post, I'll include a couple of photographs of the Queen's coffin being driven through West End Road in Ruislip from RAF Northolt. These were taken by my neighbours. I would have been there to see this and the King had I not been out of the country last Tuesday evening.
R.I.P. Queen Elizabeth II. She inspired so many.
Leave a comment