The world’s leaders have descended upon London to attend the late Queen’s funeral as thousands of mourners lined the streets to pay their respects in London.
While many camped through the night to secure their place at Westminster to witness King Charles III and the royals walk behind the coffin, people around the world were glued to their television screens, enraptured by the majestic scenes playing out.
In Paris, well-wishers gathered in the Bombardier, an English pub in the city’s fifth arrondissement, which had opened early for the occasion.
Nathan Shreeve-Moon, 31, found himself in Paris at the time of the Queen’s death because he has been working on a production of Romeo Et Juliette with renowned choreographer Benjamin Millepied.
Mr Shreeve-Moon, who is originally from the Yorkshire Dales but who has lived in New York for the past 10 years, said he wanted to watch the funeral to feel “a sense of connection” with his home country”.
I can’t say I had a tremendous emotional connection to the Queen,” he said. “But since I moved to the US, with the state of American politics over the past 10 years and the constant state of change and shift, I can really see the benefit of someone who was always there – someone who was apolitical.”
Mr Shreeve-Moon added: “The root of the tree never moved, and for that to be gone is very strange.”
Betsy Herst, 63, was among those watching the Queen’s funeral from the Bombardier Pub in Paris.
Ms Herst said she wanted to watch the occasion to pay her respects. “I had huge admiration for the Queen, she devoted her whole life from a very young age,” she said. “She was steadfast in upholding the tradition of the roles and task put in front of her.”
spectators sat silently watching the funeral at a British bar in Majorca, while in the UAE, Britons kept up with the ceremony while aboard the former ocean liner Queen Elizabeth II, which is now permanently docked at a port in Dubai.
Lucy Davis, a UAE resident from London, travelled from Abu Dhabi to the QE2 with her six-year-old daughter to watch the funeral.
“It was quite a long way to come, but with everything that had happened over the past few days, I felt very far from home,” she told the National News UAE.
She added that the ship was part of the late Queen’s legacy, so it felt “fitting” that they should watch the funeral there today.
In Japan, floral tributes were laid outside the British embassy in Tokyo, while mourners gathered at an English pub in Washington DC in the US to watch the funeral.
The news of the Queen’s death on September 8 was met by worldwide grief as global leaders sent messages of condolences to the royal family.
Russian president Vladimir Putin extended his condolences to Britain for the “irreparable loss” of Queen Elizabeth, while Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau called her “one of my favourite people in the world, and I will miss her so”.
Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Makhtoum, tweeted “condolences of the people of the Emirates on the death of Queen Elizabeth II” after meeting Charles III on Sunday at Buckingham Palace.
Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine, said it was a “great honour” to be present at the Queen‘s funeral “on behalf of all Ukrainians”. Mrs Zelenska, who met the Princess of Wales at Buckingham Palace yesterday, said the Queen‘s attention to Ukraine “was an important signal of support”.
“She wished us better times and shared our desire for freedom. We will always remember it with deep gratitude,” she wrote on Twitter.
