It may have only lasted a matter of minutes but as the Queen’s coffin made its last journey up the final stretch of the Long Walk to Windsor Castle, it was a moment that captured a lifetime of respect.
Among the sombre watching crowd, applause broke out in tribute to Britain’s longest-serving monarch as the procession passed through. Others along the tree-lined avenue simply watched in silence, taking it all in.
Children were held high on shoulders, a sea of smartphones were raised into the air by those recording a piece of history, before Queen Elizabeth II was taken to her final resting place inside the castle’s chapel.
There, after the morning’s state funeral at Westminster Abbey, a 4pm committal service was held at St George’s Chapel. A private burial service later took place at 7.30pm for members of the royal family, including King Charles.
Some among the thousands gathered at Windsor Castle took their spots as early as Sunday. They included Sandra Woodjetts, 72, from Newbury, and her daughter, Nicky Fowler, 49, who arrived at 10pm to secure a prized view at the top of the Long Walk.
“To be honest with you, living within the same county, we have never, ever been to any [royal] event, whether it was a wedding, funeral,” Fowler explained, adding: “With the Queen passing … it meant so much to us to actually, do you know what, let’s make that effort, let’s do this because this is a once in a lifetime [moment].”
“We were not giving those up for anything, seriously,” she added, referencing their front row positions. Armed with camping chairs, the pair sacrificed sleep to be there.
It was not their first outing to pay tribute. They had queued for about eight hours to see the Queen lying in state at Westminster, reaching the front early on Friday.
Also among the Windsor crowd were three friends who travelled up from Dorset in the morning. Explaining why, Lisa Jackson, 53 – who said she is not a royalist – told The Independent: “I went to London on Friday, I just wanted to be part of the atmosphere and I love the Queen. And I thought 70 years is amazing, London was great, and I just thought it would be nice to be here on the Monday and … be involved.”
Claire Cooper, 46, said: “Obviously, I was going to watch the funeral at home but I just thought, this is the last chance you’ve actually got to pay your respects and I’d wanted to do it in person rather than just sitting at home in my lounge.”
She added: “I wouldn’t say I’m a complete royalist but she’s still our Queen. I just wanted to … say that final goodbye.”
The Queen’s death had an unexpected impact on Ms Cooper. She said: “When I found out she passed, I’m not really a complete emotional person either, but I did cry and I felt a bit like, why am I crying, I didn’t even know her?”
Unlike her friends, Sally Yates-Webber would describe herself as a royalist. “But I come from a long line of forces,” the 46-year-old said, explaining she has been brought up with “serving the Queen and country”.
She said the Queen has been “someone to look up to” and “been there throughout”, adding: “She was … my grandparents’ Queen, my parents’ Queen, my Queen and now my son’s.”
Those watching events elsewhere on one of the big screens lining the Long Walk on Monday afternoon included Justine Grant and Deborah Thomas from nearby Ascot.
Thomas, a company director, said: “I had a sort of real calling to come here and I’m not sure if it was, perhaps, because my mother was a massive royalist. I was born in Windsor, I could see the castle from my bedroom window and my mother passed away in September, a year ago … so I feel like I’m doing it for her because she was such a royalist and I am a royalist as well.”
Her mother was, she said, the same age as the late monarch, adding: “I have this real love of the Queen and I just felt the need to come here and be surrounded by other people that feel the same.”
Grant, 52, a British Airways cabin crew member, said: “I just wanted to pay my respects. I felt it was my duty as a citizen … we have seen her a lot locally as part of the community and I hold her in really high regard and I just wanted to say thank you for all that she did for the country.”
Elsewhere in the crowd were married couple Katie and Jonathan Tooke. The pair, from Sale, Greater Manchester, have a picture of the late monarch in the hallway of their home and even a cardboard cut-out of her in the kitchen.
Ms Tooke, 49, a police officer who formerly worked in the prison service, said: “I always see the Queen as my boss, I’ve worked for her nearly 30 years so I just thought it was important to see her, either in London or here.”
She added: “I was always proud to wear the crown on my shoulder … just admired her as a person, I suppose.”
Mr Tooke, 51 — a HGV driver who previously served in the armed forces for 10 years in the Parachute Regiment and worked in the prison service for 15 years — said he and his wife were royalists, adding that “for us to be sat at home ... would have been ridiculous, so we had to do something”.
Later, following the end of the committal service, Teresa Yates, 57, from Oxfordshire, was offering out leftover marmalade sandwiches to those still there. “I haven’t eaten as much as I anticipated, haven’t had time, I’ve been too busy,” she quipped.
She, too, was one of those who stayed overnight on the Long Walk. “We got here at 12 o’clock yesterday lunchtime,” Yates said, explaining that she came with a fellow mourner she met in Windsor only days ago. “Strangely enough … I came to visit Windsor on Tuesday, and she was here on her own and I was here on my own, both emotional … I joked and said we should watch it together and she said, lovely idea …”
In death, as well as life, it seems, the Queen has brought people together.
