The Queen is facing heartbreak yet again after the death of one of her closest friends who she has known since childhood.
It was announced yesterday that Lady Myra Butter, who was widely considered to be in both Her Majesty and Prince Philip's inner circle, had passed away in London at the age of 97.
Scottish-born Lady Butter, who leaves behind five children, was a descendent of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia and poet, novelist and playwright, Alexander Pushkin.
She struck up a friendship with the Queen when they were both young girls after she was enlisted to join her in various childhood activities including swimming and attending Brownies.
She told T he Telegraph last year: "They got hold of some girls to be part of the thing to make it more fun.
"In the Guides and the Brownies it was a real mixture, which was really nice, some friends, friends of [the family], and all the people in the Royal mews, their children, they were Brownies and Guides. Just a normal sort of pack really.”
Lady Butter remained close to Her Majesty and also had a long-standing friendship with Philip, to who she paid a beautiful tribute after his death aged 99 last year.
During ITV's coverage of Philip's funeral, she told how the Queen would be "lost" without her husband.
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She explained that Philip's dedication to duty meant "nobody could have done that job" as the Duke of Edinburgh had done for decades.
She said: "There's nobody, in my mind, who could have done that job. Nobody.
"Dedicated to it, and very intelligent and youthful."
"He was a step behind walking, but he was never a step behind as a person."
Earlier this year, she handed back the Pushkin medal, which had been awarded to her by President Vladimir Putin for bringing Russian and Scottish schoolchildren together.
Lady Butter said it was "with great regret" she was returning the honour amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The sad news comes just months after the monarch also lost fellow close friends the Duchess of Grafton and Lady Farnham.
Lady Farnham was the monarch's lady-in-waiting, acting as her Lady of the Bedchamber since 1987.
She supported the Queen for decades, most publicly during the 2021 Diamond Jubilee celebrations when she stepped in for Prince Philip who was unable to attend as he was unwell.
Her death came just weeks after the passing of the Duchess of Grafton, another of the Queen's ladies in waiting, with whom she was also extremely close.
Ann Fortune FitzRoy passed away in early December after serving the Royal Household throughout the Queen's reign.
She was appointed the Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order in 1980, an honour given by the Queen for services to the sovereign.
The Queen was made the godmother to Ann's second daughter in 1954.
Lady Farnham and the Duchess of Grafton's deaths came at the end of a difficult year for Queen last year, which many referred to as her second 'annus horribilis '.
