A simple tribute has left people in tears as one royal fan has nodded to the Queen's recent appearance alongside iconic fictional bear, Paddington. The well-wisher left a marmalade sandwich inside a plastic bag at the gates of the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
The plastic wrapper surrounding the sandwich was emotionally labelled 'For later!' with two kisses in handwritten ink, echoing what Paddington Bear said to the Queen when they both featured in a special sketch for her Jubilee celebrations in June.
The heart-warming sketch was shared across the world and showed the Queen joking to the beloved bear that she liked to keep marmalade sandwiches in her handbag and even pulled one out to prove it, reports The Mirror.
Broadcaster Simon McCoy shared the image on Twitter with the caption "From Paddington" with the hashtag #TheQueen.
One person wrote: "this brought tears to my eyes again" while another added "Darned Paddington keeps sending me over the edge" with crying emojis. Another Twitter user said: "It’s sometimes the small things that make you cry".
Another person commented: "What a beautiful, simple and wonderful tribute".
Laying down another Paddington-themed gift, one visitor left a copy of Michael Bond’s book Paddington At The Rainbow’s End at the gates of Holyrood house. A note written on it said simply: “One last story Ma’am. X”
A tweet shared from Paddington's official Twitter account read: "Thank you Ma’am, for everything."
A marmalade sandwich also lay among the floral tributes directly outside the gates of Balmoral on Sunday morning. A message on the ziplock bag read: “A marmalade sandwich for your journey ma’am”.
Marmalade sandwiches have featured among the flowers and cards left at various locations in tribute to the Queen since her death on Thursday.
Sunflowers have been left at venues from Balmoral to Buckingham Palace to honour the “joy and happiness” she brought to “so many”.
Sunflowers have been one of the most common tributes left at Buckingham Palace, Windsor and Balmoral. Social media users have been sharing their reasons for honouring the Queen with the yellow flower, saying “she had the most amazing smile” and they wanted “to highlight the affection that the people of Ukraine have for the Queen”.
Lloyd Rees, a London-based lawyer, told the PA news agency he left sunflowers near Buckingham Palace to highlight the Queen’s legacy of bringing “joy and happiness to people”. Her Majesty the Queen gave a lifetime of service to our country. I felt I must visit the Palace and pay my respects to the Queen,” the 32-year-old said.
“I decided to leave a bouquet of sunflowers as she had brought so much joy and happiness to so many people for so long.”
As well as the bouquet, Mr Rees left a note at a floral tribute garden in Green Park saying: “Thank you for your service to our nation. A constant in a changing world. We will miss you. With love.”
When he heard about the Queen’s death on Thursday, he said he “couldn’t quite believe it”. “She was all we had ever known. It is still surreal,” he added.
The managing director of L&D flowers, in Pinchbeck, south Lincolnshire, said the summer heatwave in many parts of the UK, including London, which saw temperatures into their 40s, could also be behind the legions of sunflowers.
“This is the longest heatwave we’ve had for about five years and, based on current weather predictions, we calculate a harvest of around 13 million stems this season”, James Lacey said.
