THE QUEEN AND I
Ordinary people share their memories She was tiny.. but joked and smiled
THROUGHOUT her 70-year reign, the Queen met and spoke to thousands of ordinary people up and down the country.
She shared a unique relationship with her subjects and worked tirelessly to serve them to the best of her ability.
Here, we hear from some of those touched by the monarch’s warmth, kindness and genuine interest.
Lawyer Pranav Bhanot, 34, from Chigwell, Essex, met the Queen at an interfaith event at Lambeth Palace in 2012, when he was 24.
He said: “The Queen really championed diversity. It was very surreal meeting her – I just froze.
“She was shorter than I expected but had a commanding but friendly presence. She was incredibly easy to talk to and the twinkle in her eye when she smiled is a sight I’ll never forget.”
Howard Salinger and son Lucas will treasure meeting Her Majesty for life. The pair were part of a delegation who greeted the Queen when she visited Berkhamsted School, Herts, to mark its 475th anniversary in 2016.
Funny
Lucas, in Year 6, had won a competition to design the Church of England’s logo for the Queen’s 90th birthday.
Howard, 47, said: “It was like the world stopped for that moment.
“I remember she was tiny and had heavy make up on.
“Lucas was cool as a cucumber. He wanted to give [his logo] to her, but she asked him to hand it to her staff, explaining, ‘I can’t carry anything, I’m too old’ and she walked off laughing.”
Owen Craft, 41, boss at Whipsnade Zoo, met the Queen in April 2017 when, as zoo patron, she opened the elephant care centre.
His son Arthur, nine, handed her a bouquet of flowers.
Owen, from Cheddington, Bucks, said: “It was a fabulous moment – he gazed up, not quite realising what he was actually doing.
“The Queen was incredibly passionate and had such a good sense of humour. She said the smell was very similar to the horses’ stables and she quite liked it.”
Flood victim and campaigner Mary Long-dhonau 57, from Ledbury, Herefordshire, met the Queen twice in 2001 and in 2009, when getting an OBE for services to the environment.
Mary recalled: “She said, ‘You will never be out of work. Flooding is going to get worse.’
“She was really clued up on climate change and the misery that flooding caused people. I expected her to be aloof, but she was the opposite – compassionate and understanding.”
Arts studio director Lynda Sterling met the Queen aged 15 in 1998 when she and Prince Philip opened a new building at Grey Coat Hospital school for girls in London.
Lynda, 39, who now lives in Manchester, said: “I was a little nervous. I was in the science lab, we were showing experiments and we had to talk to the Queen about what we were doing.
“I had to say the words, ‘white precipitate’. But I couldn’t get ‘precipitate’ out and kept saying,
‘white… white...’ and stumbling. The Queen jumped in and said, ‘White something.’ I said yes and caught her eye. It made us both giggle.
“It was such a kind and human thing for her to do, to step in and help me like that. She was warm and gentle.” Playwright and Open Clasp Theatre Company co-founder Catrina Mchugh, 59, from Newcastleupon-tyne, was awarded an MBE for outstanding services to disadvantaged women through theatre in 2017.
She said: “The Queen was absolutely lovely. I could have hugged her, even though I know you’re not allowed to.
“She made you feel like she really listened to you.” Marketing manager
Amy Brunsdon, 31, from Reading, met the Queen in 2007 at Badenpowell House in Kensington, London, for the unveiling of a sculpture.
Amy, who has been a scout or scout volunteer since the age of 10, said: “The Queen was tiny but had such a big presence in the world. She was genuinely interested in what everybody was doing. “She was definitely cheeky. She had that kind of smile and you could see there was a glint in her eye.”
Head of veterinary services Alison Thomas, 58, was performing surgery when the Queen reopened the Blue Cross animal hospital in Victoria, central London, in 2001.
A client’s dog began jumping up at the Queen’s leg, Alison recalled.
She added: “But she didn’t mind at all and was very happy to respond to the dog.” Consultant Jess Alfert, 30, met the Queen at a Buckingham
Palace garden party in 2019.
Jess, from London, said: “It was surreal. You feel starstruck in her presence. She had an air of calmness around her.”
Physiotherapist Sasha Pearce, from London, presented flowers to the Queen in 1992, and met her again outside Kensington Palace after Diana, Princess of Wales, died in 1997.
Sasha, who was five when she lost her own mother in a car accident, said: “She came over to our little group and asked how long we’d been waiting.
“I asked how the princes were and how they were coping and she said ‘They’re as well as can be expected’.
“I told her I’d lost my mother and said to send all our love, and she said ‘Yes of course and thank you so much for coming’ and [that] it was appreciated. She was lovely.”
I expected her to be aloof but she was the opposite