Bear Grylls and Sandra Oh among celebrities at Queen’s funeral

Bear Grylls outside Westminster Abbey before the Queen’s funeral on Monday. Photograph: Reuters

Along with the dignitaries, members of the royal family and heads of state at the Queen’s funeral were also stars familiar from their roles on television and in public life.

The adventurer Bear Grylls wearing a morning suit, took his place at the service held at Westminster Abbey on Monday, representing the Scouts. The TV star was appointed as chief scout in 2009 when he was 34, making him the youngest person to hold the post in the UK. Grylls was made an OBE in 2019 by the Queen, who was patron of the Scout Association.

After the Queen’s death, he said the entire scout family was “united in sorrow for the loss of our patron”, and she had left a “bright legacy of hope and promise for future generations”.

Grylls said the Queen championed young people in the UK throughout her life and was “especially proud” when girls were first able to join the organisation in the 1970s. She had told him several times how she loved volunteering and remembered it as a young girl during the war, he said.

In a tweet, the Scouts said: “Chief Scout, @BearGrylls, will represent Scouts at State Funeral today and pay final respects to our Patron, HM The Queen. Our thoughts are with the Royal Family.”

Also among the mourners was Sandra Oh, best known for her roles in Killing Eve and Grey’s Anatomy, who attended as part of the Canadian delegation as a member of the Order of Canada.

Another actor, Sophie Winkleman, known for her role in the comedy series Peep Show, also attended the funeral, as a member of the royal family.

Sophie Winkleman (right) with her husband Lord Frederick Windsor and Lady Sarah Chatto, the Queen’s niece. Photograph: Tim Rooke/REX/Shutterstock

The 42-year-old is married to Lord Frederick Windsor, the son of the Queen’s cousin Prince Michael of Kent, and appeared alongside him. The couple married at Hampton Court Palace in September 2009 and Winkleman became entitled to be called Lady Frederick Windsor but continues to use her own name in her acting career.

In the long-running Channel 4 sitcom, Winkleman played Big Suze, the love interest of Robert Webb’s character Jeremy. Winkleman is the paternal half-sister of the Strictly Come Dancing presenter Claudia Winkleman.