People from the North East who travelled to London to observe the Queen’s funeral have been reflecting on their experiences of the day.
The state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II was held at Westminster Abbey on September 19, following her death at Balmoral Castle on September 8, aged 96. Hundreds of thousands of people travelled to the capital today to pay their respects to the late Queen.
Chronicle Live travelled to London from Newcastle Central Station this morning and met with people from the region who felt it was important to travel down to London to pay their respects to the Queen. We caught up with them this evening as they reflected on the historic day.
Read more: 'It's history': North East mourners travel on the first train to London for the Queen's funeral
Hugo Hunter, aged nine, said he felt it was important to travel to London with his mum to watch the Queen’s funeral today because the Queen was 'a good role model' and she’s 'been an inspiration for a lot of years'.
Travelling home on the train this evening he reflected on the honour to have attended such an historic occasion. Hugo said: “This is a day that I’ll learn about tomorrow in school. And also a lot of people also will, and also my kids when they’re my age.”
He added: “I’m really excited to go to school tomorrow so I can tell all of my friends, and especially my history teacher, about it.”
Hugo’s mum, Kate Cookney, said: “We watched the funeral from Hyde Park, it was the closest we could get, I’ve never seen so many people. There was a calmness around the park, people coming together in different ways, some singing along to the hymns others wiping their tears, but all eyes were on the screens.
"It was a day that we will never forget and nothing more than the Queen deserved.”
Denise Wilson, from Chester-le-Street, also travelled to London this morning to observe the Queen’s funeral. Once she arrived in the capital, Denise met with her daughter and granddaughter, who lives in London, at Green Park. She said the crowds for the Queen’s funeral were a lot bigger than those she witnessed during the Queen Mother’s funeral.
She also watched the funeral from Hyde Park as Green Park was full by the time she arrived this morning.
Denise said: “The atmosphere in Hyde park was really nice people getting settled to watch, as soon as the funeral started there was complete silence and everyone stood up, very emotional when the pipers and marines played. The Pomp and ceremony was just amazing, makes you proud to be British.”
She added: “Proud to be British. We did Her Majesty proud.”
Denise said she felt a little disappointed that she was unable to get to Big Ben to watch the funeral, but added that she wouldn’t have seen anything as things were different to when the Queen Mother passed. She added: “[I’m] still glad we came down as we heard the pipes and drums where we were.”
Speaking at Newcastle Central Station this morning, Lynn Davidson, from South Shields, said she wanted to travel to London because she was brought up a royalist.
She also said she wanted to go for her mam because "she can’t go as she cares for my dad. She was a big fan of the Queen so I wanted to go for her.”
Read next:
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- Queen's lying in state ends with RAF servicewoman last person to pay respects
- Full Order of Service for Westminster Abbey and St George's Chapel services
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