As the world reflects on the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II following news of her death yesterday, tourists and locals around Windsor Castle have paid their respects to the country’s longest serving monarch.
We asked people about the Queen’s life, her legacy and how her death has affected them.
60-year-old Sandra Grant told us she would have liked to thank the Queen for her service: “I would just say: Your Majesty, thank you. You’ve been a remarkable role model and we’re going to miss you.”
She told us how she admired the Queen’s family-orientated nature.
“We’re used to seeing the Queen professionally but in the background she’s just like everybody else with a family, and to see her interact with her family and her children was wonderful.
“For me, being a person of colour who lived in the United States for 40 years and came back to Windsor, I hope that this does unite people, and that we can come together.
“I think it’s quite a sombre atmosphere here. Like I was saying to some of my family yesterday, we’ve all grown up with the Queen and so for us it’s like losing a family member.”
“I will miss her humour,” said 68-year-old Susan Hufstader, a tourist from Pensacola, Florida. “She seemed to be such a sweet woman.”
Susan and her husband Denny, 72, heard the news in a nearby pub and noted how the room went quiet when the news were announced.
She said: “It was touching because the pub was very noisy, and then they turned on the TV and they showed that she had passed, and all of a sudden it went very quiet.”
“Everything went stone silent,” Denny added. “It’s really sad. No matter how great a life anybody has, it’s sad when they pass because you know you’re not going to see them again.”
Susan said: “I think you feel more protected when you have a monarchy, and I think she felt that was her role, to protect the people of the UK.”
Denny added: “She represented the British tradition, the first thing people think about when they think of the United Kingdom. She showed a lot of grace under pressure.”
Rachel Hanlon, 26, from Birmingham echoed the same thoughts.
She said: “I’ve never been into politics, but the Queen has always been a gentle calm presence in the background. She had grace, decorum and balance, in what is always very frantic in our political society. The fact that she’s always abstained from that makes her an overarching calm in all of that.”
Rachel recalled meeting the Queen once when she was at school in Derbyshire.
She explained: “I can remember my whole school lining up across the bridge and she looked at me and waved, so I came today to visit her like she visited me.”
Jan Ringsell, who works at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, also came to bring flowers and pay her respects to Queen Elizabeth II.
The 75-year-old described her fondest memory of the Queen as the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
She said: “Even though she had mobility issues, she remained stoic in her duty.”
We asked Jan what she would have liked to say to the Queen if she had had the chance to meet her face-to-face.
She responded: “Well done. She’s done a marvellous job.”
