So many flowers, so many tears, so many memories
AT the gates of Buckingham Palace, wellwishers from around the world laid floral tributes to the Queen – as bright and cheerful as the clothes she wore.
At dawn, crowds were already being corralled by police around the palace, and by 10 o’clock, the trees and fountains in neighbouring Green Park were laden with flowers and heartfelt cards after being cleared the previous evening.
The Sunday crowds included many young children as parents brought their families along to share a historic moment of remembrance together.
Children rode scooters up and down between the Queen Victoria memorial and the palace’s towering gates. Others, clutched teddies and bouquets. One child
‘Brought my corgi to cheer up the children’
being carried by their mother asked: ‘Mummy, why did the Queen die?’ – a conversation no doubt being had around the country as many learn about death and grief for the first time.
Jo Wilson, 32, brought along her corgi – wearing a Union Jack collar – as she laid her tribute. ‘We thought to bring Quincy down to cheer up the children and to make people happy,’ she said.
‘He’s loving the pats and attention. The kids really recognise him as a corgi thanks to the Queen.’
Meanwhile thousands flocked to Windsor yesterday, clutching bunches of flowers as they gathered to commemorate Her Majesty.
A one-way system took mourners in a mile-long loop around Windsor Castle to Cambridge Gate where people laid messages of remembrance. There was a sombre atmosphere, as some bowed their heads and reflected silently at the gate, while others wiped away tears.
Among the crowd was Diana Travers, 89, who cried as she read her handwritten message left on the colourful bouquet she placed at the bottom of the gate. The former actress recalled being 18 and visiting George VI when he was lying in state. She was also among the thousands to witness Queen Elizabeth’s coronation at
the Mall. Armed with her walking stick, Miss Travers said she had ‘lost a friend’ in Queen Elizabeth, before joining thousands of others making the mile-long walk.
She said: ‘I was a student and went with a group of fellow students wearing our armbands to see the king lying in state.
‘We went to the Palace of Westminster but by the time we got in it was nearly midnight. We were going in quietly when quite suddenly police came and asked us to step back.
‘They placed a huge red cordon around [the coffin] and one of my fellow students said “We’ve got to step back”.
‘Then I looked and there were the three Queens – his widow, his mother, Queen Mary and our lovely young girl who was Queen Elizabeth.
‘When the king died, it was devastating. Now, I feel like I’ve lost a friend. She has always been with us.’
Throughout the afternoon, the groundsmen along the Long Walk donned black armbands as they continued with preparations ahead of the monarch’s funeral next
‘Feel I have lost a friend’
week. Derrick Fry, 74, was among the dozens of ceremonial wardens directing crowds around the grounds yesterday, wearing a cap and black tie, both bearing the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead crest.
Mr Fry has witnessed dozens of royal events over his 13-year career, and said his first memory of the Queen was when he was aged five, after being left with his grandparents while his mother and father went to watch her coronation.
Meanwhile thousands of mourners continued to descend on Sandringham to lay floral tributes yesterday.
Families queued for up to an hour in traffic to reach the estate after Norfolk Police set up a oneway system on country roads to deal with the great number of visitors.
They then walked 20 minutes from a car park to place bouquets outside the imposing Norwich Gates entrance to the gardens of Sandringham House.
The pile of flowers had grown to more than 30ft thick by yesterday afternoon.
And at midday in central London, the huge snake of people winding from Green Park Tube station down to the Mall and around the gates of Buckingham Palace and back into the park was barely moving due to the sheer number of people. The patient crowds were euphoric when, at 1pm, a visibly emotional King Charles made his way down the mall in a Rolls-Royce to Buckingham Palace, with his wife Queen Consort Camilla.
As the mountains of tributes built up to several feet around the base of trees, volunteers helped Royal Park wardens strip the flowers of plastic and paper wrapping, conscious of the environmental impact. Cards and written notes were carefully preserved.
One from a Canadian couple simply read: ‘Thank you for the years, for all your time and love. Rest in peace dear Queen Elizabeth.’
Jerry Treble, 75, said: ‘I watched the coronation when I was six years old on a neighbour’s television. I have such special memories of the times I have seen her at Windsor and once in Gilwell Park in Chingford when she waved at just me and my children as we stood by the roadside. It felt like a very personal moment with her. I will miss her so much.’
Chantele Carrington, who grew up in South Africa, said: ‘I watched her reign with grace, honour and the utmost care and respect. She was so beautifully special and a global treasure.’