Video footage has captured the adorable moment a young boy gave his impressive drawing of the Queen to King Charles.
Alfie Matley, 12, from Prestwich, handed his work to the new monarch as the excited schoolboy waited in a 13-hour queue to see Her Majesty lying in state. The royal fan had travelled down to London with mum Kirsty, nana Christine and some of their family, arriving in the early hours of Saturday morning (September 17).
The group queued for 13 hours before finally reaching Westminster. However, in a turn of events, the family were surprised when police told them to stand along the barrier as King Charles had arrived and would be greeting people waiting in the line near Victoria Tower Gardens.
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Taking the rare opportunity, Alfie got the chance to shake hands with the new King, before his sketch of Queen Elizabeth was handed to Charles by his nana Christine, who seemed impressed with the artwork.
"That's extremely good," he said, smiling and turning to 12-year-old Alfie. Mum Kirsty said he 'cried' and was 'so happy' with the chance encounter in which Charles kept hold of the sketch and continued walking.
"We went down on the Friday evening and got to London for around 1.30am," Kirsty told the M.E.N. "We wanted to go past the coffin and to pay our respects like so many others.
"My son drew a picture of the Queen and decided to bring it with him. He just wanted to draw it, and he didn't know he was coming to London as we decided quite last minute.
"We ended up queuing from around 2am in the morning and it was nearly 3pm on Saturday by the time we reached Westminster - it had been nearly 13 hours. The queue was absolute madness, it was crazy.
"Just before we got to Westminster, the police suddenly asked us all to stand along the barrier and we didn't know what was going on. Next thing we saw King Charles' car and knew he would be coming."
Alfie is seen on the clip, filmed by mum Kirsty, getting excited as the new monarch walked along the queue. He shakes his hand briefly, before Christine shows him the sketch of the Queen.
"He was amazed by it and told him it was really good," added Kirsty. "My son was crying, he was over the moon with it all. We didn't expect to see him."
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