Thousands of royal fans arrived in Norfolk yesterday to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth II with colourful flowers, well-wishes and special letters. Many mourners were able to speak to the Prince and Princess of Wales in person and shared their condolences to the royal family.
Kate Middleton visibly welled up as she led a schoolgirl to add her flowers to the sea of floral tributes at the gates, and Prince William fought back tears as he told a woman: "Don't cry now - you'll start me." Another touching exchange was captured on camera, hearing William make a lighthearted joke to a mother and her baby about the Queen's beloved corgis.
Gemma Schultz was waiting at the barrier with her baby, who was dressed in a navy jumper with Paddington on it, inspired by the Queen's sweet Platinum Jubilee clip.
"I was saying, I think Paddington might have knocked the corgi off the top spot now. The corgis won't take that very well," William joked.
The sweet footage was captured by BBC News, who later interviewed Gemma about her meeting with the Prince.
"We spoke to William and we spoke too Kate, they both said about his little outfits, how nice they were," she said.
"They're just really nice and genuine people... all the things that they are doing for everyone is just so nice."
The Prince and Princess of Wales stayed for almost an hour, chatting to members of the public and reading the heartfelt messages that had been left outside of the gates to the Norfolk estate.
Many expressed their sympathy to William, 40, who the day before had joined the King and other royals walking behind the late Queen's coffin on its journey from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall.
Another member of the crowd told how William revealed: "Doing the walk yesterday was challenging. It brought back a few memories.
"It's one of these moments where you kind of think to yourself, 'I've prepared myself for this', but I’m not that prepared."
It came 25 years and eight days after they made a similar journey behind their mother Diana's coffin on September 6, 1997, when William was 15 and Harry still only 12.
William was also heard telling a mourner that the Queen was "everyone's grandmother" and saying Prince George, nine, understood that she had died but Princess Charlotte, seven, and Prince Louis, four, hadn't quite grasped it yet.
Nettie Wells, 90, said: "You could see he looked very emotional and very overwhelmed. He thanked me for coming."
In a lighter moment, William made a section of the crowd burst into laughter as he told retired firefighter Steve Hobart, 65, that "it was a good time to get out of London" to dodge the crowds.
You can now buy Friday's historic Daily Mirror commemorating the death of the Queen here: mirror.co.uk/commemorative
