‘There will be a lot of grief in Jamaica’: Birmingham mourners on Queen and Commonwealth

Eglon Harris likened the Queen’s concern for others to that of her own mother. Photograph: Andrew Fox/the Guardian

As she emerged from the Hall of Memory in Birmingham, where she had signed a book of condolence for the Queen, Eglon Harris was struggling to hold back tears.

“I can hardly talk about it, it’s so hard,” said the 64-year-old, a childcare provider who moved to the UK from Jamaica in 1969. “She was a year older than my mom, so she always put me in mind of her. Always wearing a hat, that was my mum. Always thinking of everyone else, that was my mum and the Queen was like that.”