‘I love you Queen. I’ll miss you’ – heartbreaking tribute of Tilly, 4, as crowds gather at Royal palaces to pay respects
THEY came in teeming rain to pay their respects.
Young and old, they left bouquets at the gates of the 50,000-acre Balmoral estate — the place where the Queen had always been happiest.
At a moss-covered bridge, one poignant message read: “I love you Queen. I’ll miss you. Tilly, aged 4.”
It was left by the young daughter of company director Charlotte Westwell, 36, and her husband Adam, 37, an oil and gas worker.
Charlotte, who lives in nearby Aboyne, said Tilly became obsessed with the Queen during the Platinum Jubilee this year.
The mum of two added: “We spent four days celebrating — we danced, we had picnics, we went to barbecues — and I just think it’s the right thing to do [to mark her death] because she gave her life to the nation.
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“She was inspirational.”
The family has fond memories of bumping into the Queen on a walk — but the Royal Family has always been part of the fabric of life in this corner of Aberdeenshire.
The Queen often found solace at Balmoral Castle, set amid heather-clad hills on the banks of the Dee.
For it was here that she had spent long summers trout fishing and picnicking on the moorland.
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And it was here her adored husband Prince Philip had proposed and where they spent their honeymoon.
Later, the castle would see cherished family barbecues and glorious days beside the river.
She had once said that “it’s rather nice to hibernate” here.
Woken to the skirl of bagpipes every morning, the Queen liked to drive her own car — often at a pace — on the estate’s private roads.
And she would sometimes go unrecognised as she visited tea rooms and stores near the castle.
Here, she could — for six weeks of the year at least — live out her dream of life in the countryside, surrounded by her beloved horses and dogs.
One former courtier said: “One of the first things you notice was how different she was when she was at Balmoral or Sandringham compared with when she was at Buckingham Palace.
“She didn’t have to be Queen there. You would look out of the window and she would walk past with her dogs, and wave.”
SOMBRE MOOD
Yesterday, Balmoral had become solemn; the dark, brooding hills encapsulating the sombre mood.
Fluttering in the breeze, a single Union Jack and a string of Scottish Saltires were at half mast.
Gillian Neale, who had travelled with 11-year-old daughter Jodie from the nearby village of Alford to pay her respects, said: “It’s a very sad mood here. She was very popular around here. Everybody loved her and she loved it here.”
Also there to pay tribute was Harry Butler, 51, who recalled bumping into the Queen as he walked through a forest on a school trip at the age of 12.
Tearful Harry, from Newburgh, near Aberdeen, revealed: “We got the shock of our lives when all these corgis emerged and then the Queen was just there.
“She asked what school we went to and seemed so interested in all of us. It was incredible just to be on a school walk in the woods and then to meet your Queen.”
The tool hire worker added: “I wanted to come here today and lay flowers as a token of respect from someone who has admired her right to the end.
“And it was right to the end that she served all of us.”
FLORAL TRIBUTES
His thoughts were echoed by the floral tributes left at the castle.
One read: “You have been a source of inspiration and a calming figure through my life.”
Another added: “A mother, a grandmother, a great grandmother, our Queen. Your job here is done. Rest easy.”
King Charles III had spent the night at the castle before he and Queen Consort Camilla were driven for the hour-long journey to Aberdeen International Airport.
Earlier, Prince Harry had made the same journey and was seen being consoled by a female airport worker in a hi-vis jacket.
He later boarded a British Airways flight as he made his way back to Windsor.
And at the gates to the Queen’s Berkshire home yesterday, another steady, solemn procession of mourners walked by to lay flowers.
Under leaden skies they held hands, leaned on each other’s shoulders and dried their tear-stained eyes in the royal town where the nation’s longest reigning monarch spent most of her private weekends.
LAID TO REST
It will be within the imposing walls of Windsor Castle that Elizabeth II will be laid to rest next to her late husband Philip and her parents, King George VI and the Queen Mother.
In the past two years, the Queen made the market town, a few miles west of London, her main residence.
Like her neighbours 500 miles north, the people of the royal borough were cheered by their everyday encounters.
On the Long Walk from the royal estate to the castle, Felicia Nwankwo, 75, a retired retailer from the town, said: “We would see her here. She once stopped her car just behind us here to let my granddaughter cross.
“She was a special woman. We should celebrate her life.”
Executive Natasha McDowell, 46, said: “It is like losing a family member. We saw the Queen at the horse show. She would walk around there without an entourage.”
Tributes were also paid to the Queen at her other much-loved retreat, the Sandringham country estate in Norfolk.
It was where she spent every Christmas with her family.
LOCAL LOVE
At the Norwich Gates, bouquets, teddy bears and tea lights rest against the walls.
Locals loved and respected the Queen, who attended Sandringham church services and Women’s Institute meetings.
Student Jasmine Finbow, 21, from Snettisham, spoke of her grandmother, who used to work for the Royal Family on the estate in the canteen.
Jasmine said: “She used to meet the Queen and talk to her a lot. We’ve all met her, so we feel touched by her loss.”
Seth Mellor, 23, remembered meeting the Queen when she visited his primary school.
He said: “To take that time to just come to a primary school and shake hands with an 11-year-old shows she was a woman of the people.”
- Additional reporting: Grant Rollings
