One of the notoriously silent Queen’s Guard members has spoken out about ‘what an honour and a privilege’ it was to serve the former head of state. Councillor James Watson who gave almost 20 years of his life to the army has compared the ‘emotional’ loss of Queen Elizabeth II like ‘losing a family member’.
The 43-year-old explained that the sense of duty and the years protecting the Queen meant her death was an emotional day for him and many others who served in the Queen’s Guard. He signed up at 16 after being told he would be the ‘personal bodyguard to the Queen’, an experience which he described as ‘mesmerising’.
Part of the Irish Guard, the Independent Network councillor for Atherton also served in six operational tours as part of his dual military role in South Armagh, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan between 1996 and 2015.
