Eddie Butler recorded a moving tribute to the Queen which was broadcast during her funeral coverage just days after his death.
While people grieve for the Queen there has been mourning in many parts of the UK for the loss of former Wales rugby captain and much-loved broadcasting figure Eddie Butler, who died at the age of 65 on September 15 - just a week after the monarch. Tributes have poured in for Eddie, who was a true master of the English language in the way he told stories.
Just days after his death, his voice was gracing our screens again during the coverage of the Queen's funeral on Monday, September 19. In a moving video package depicting the Queen's relationship and history with Westminster Abbey, Eddie could be heard to say:
"The Abbey and the Queen. A place and a monarch with a lifelong bond. A special connection born of the Abbey being a royal peculiar. That is, under the directed jurisdiction of the sovereign.
"But more of affection than jurisdiction. From her earliest days the Queen was among family here. It was here that she married Prince Phillip. The royal wedding a splash of colour to brighten up the grey days of post-war Britain.
"More royal weddings followed, for two of her children: Princess Anne and Prince Andrew. And for her grandson William, heir to the throne, just as she had been until her father's death. Her coronation took place, of course, in her Abbey.
"The Abbey, soaring dramatic and yet intimate. A meeting place, a place to celebrate, give thanks, remember, to be sad. Westminster Abbey so often the stage for so much royal drama. A fitting place to say goodbye to our longest-reigning monarch."
Many people paid tribute to his characteristically powerful delivery. Taking to Twitter, Jon W said: "Hearing Eddie Butler narrating a piece on the BBC now makes today’s events even more poignant if that’s at all possible."
David Wilton said: "Turned on tv this morning to get piece on Queen Elizabeth with voice over by Eddie Butler. That stopped me mid coffee." And Stephen Parkinson added: "Lovely to have the poetry of #EddieButler as part of the #QueensFuneral."
You can view more tributes to the late Eddie Butler here. The BBC coverage of the Queen's funeral is being led by Huw Edwards and you can read more about him and his remarkable career here.
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