English teahouse owner pays tribute to ‘cheeky granny’
Jo Watson has thrown open the doors of her Taranaki teahouse, removed the hats from the Paddington Bears and invited all to remember ‘‘cheeky granny’’ Queen Elizabeth II.
Sombre music played yesterday morning, signs thanked the Queen for her loyalty and service and the resident Paddington Bears were provided with tissues at The Old Town Hall Tea Room in Urenui.
Watson, who is ‘‘not even a royalist’’, said she was glad Elizabeth II had been her queen.
‘‘For all the pomp and ceremony I love that so often she showed her humanness.
‘‘I’m a grandmother and I think of our late Queen as a cheeky granny, a devoted mother, and she will always be the greatest queen.’’
Watson said when she heard the Queen had died she considered closing for the day.
‘‘When I heard the news I thought what do we do? Do we close? Or do we open?
‘‘And if people feel as I do – a bit misplaced, not sure what to do – then it’s right to have our doors open.
‘‘This is just a safe place, come in and sit in silence or talk, it doesn’t matter.’’
Watson said she didn’t even want to think about the succession.
‘‘Today, I choose to just think about her and right now, my happiest memory is actually the wonderful little videos that she created with Paddington Bear,’’ she said.
‘‘I decided about 20 minutes ago that all the Paddington Bears would probably be rather sad so that is why I’ve taken all their little hats off.’’
The distance between her new home and Britain ‘‘had never seemed so vast’’ and while most British expats considered New Zealand their home, Watson said there wouldn’t be a single expat who didn’t wish they were back in England.
‘‘I really do think this was an end of an era and I think there is much grief for that.
‘‘So many of us have watched these dramatisations of the Queen on places like Netflix and they were successful for a reason – because she was just totally real.’’