Sir David Attenborough has paid a heartfelt tribute to Her Majesty the Queen following the sad news of her death.
The natural historian and beloved broadcaster paid his respects to the late monarch as he remembered her “most precious laugh”.
Born just weeks apart in 1926, the pair hold a special place in the hearts of many and have worked closely together during their shared decades in the public eye.
The 96-year-old biologist is mourning the death of the monarch who he knew personally though his work in promoting conservation and the natural world.
The Queen died “peacefully” yesterday at age 96 at her Balmoral Estate.
And Sir David has led tributes to her as he reflected on their decades of friendship and their working relationship.
He remembered working on documentaries with HRH and recalling her “incomparable professionalism” every time.
The pair filmed The Queen’s Green Planet - a 2018 ITV film about the Queen’s dream of creating a lasting legacy of a network of national forest parks and helped produce several of her Christmas messages throughout the 80s.
Their professional relationship spanned decades with them first meeting in 1958.
Attenborough made his first television appearance just a year after the Queen's Coronation, taking to the small screen in 1954 with the BBC documentary Zoo Quest.
David and the monarchy have grown close thanks to their charity work and shared passion for wildlife, working together on a number of projects.
But their professional relationship experienced many lighter moments as Sir David recalled an anecdote about losing his glasses in her company. He attributed these moments as the reason their bond grew so strong.
He told ITV News that while it was easy for someone to laugh politely, “if there was something funny she laughed in a genuine way”.
“She wasn’t putting it on and that made it very easy,” he recalled of her laughter.
“She was an expert at getting people to relax.
“When you met her you were well-aware that you were in the presence of someone who was extremely important to our society and yet she made it seem that you were meeting another human being with exactly the same conditions that all human beings have.”
In 1986, the Queen rewarded Sir David's work with a knighthood for services to television, and between 1986 to 1991, the environmentalist worked closely with the Queen to produce her Christmas addresses to the nation.
Over his years of working on the Christmas broadcast, Sir David explained how he watched the Queen become “more and more skilled at maintaining a position, maintaining a way of behaving and speaking, and of mastering a brief and doing a job with conviction.”
In more recent years, as green-causes became more prominent in the monarchy's work, the Queen awarded Sir David with the Order of Merit - a personal gift of the monarch for exceptional distinction in the arts and sciences.
Attenborough now collaborates with the Queen's grandchildren Prince Harry and in particular Prince William's The Earthshot Prize.
Sir David and the Queen enjoyed a cordial relationship. The duo were frequently pictured together at plant and wildlife events and the naturalist has been heavily involved in the monarch's Platinum Jubilee appeal to plant a tree for The Queen's Green Canopy.
The Queen and Sir David formed a unique friendship over the course of their long lives. He told the broadcaster their bond was something which left him “delighted” but also knowing “it was a great privilege”.
