To bid farewell to Queen Elizabeth II, Sarah Fowles traveled to Buckingham Palace with not just flowers, but a teddy bear, too: Paddington in his red hat and his blue duffel coat.
The beloved children’s book character is omnipresent among the thousands of bouquets outside the palace, thanks largely to a video of the queen drinking tea with the bear for her Platinum Jubilee.
So numerous have they become that Royal Parks — which oversees Green Park where tributes from the palace are being taken — on Monday asked visitors not to bring any more soft toys, or marmalade sandwiches, Paddington’s favorite snack.
Photo: AFP
“Paddington is a British institution,” said Fowles, who said she hoped to leave her Paddington in front of the gates of Buckingham Palace despite the crowds there.
“The video was brilliant. It showed the queen’s sense of humor. She knew how to create a connection with people, here with children,” she said.
The video created for the queen’s jubilee marking her 70 years on the throne in June showed Paddington seated opposite her at the palace and offering her a “Ma’amalade sandwich.”
The late monarch, known for her dry sense of humor, politely smiled while the bear cub gulped down tea from a teapot, before then taking her own marmalade sandwich from her handbag.
She then tapped her teacup with a spoon in time with the drums that began to play Queen’s We Will Rock You in front of Buckingham Palace.
The video immediately went viral and has remained one of the most joyous moments of a jubilee that, even at the time, had a distinctly valedictory tone.
“It was the last time she did anything public,” said Julie Williams, 63, who traveled four hours by train from Manchester to pay tribute. “It was that kind of thing that created an affinity with people.”
Paddington and the queen were both, in their own ways, British institutions dating from the 1950s that have retained public affection down through the years.
While the queen came to the throne in 1952, Paddington first appeared in the book A Bear Called Paddington by author Michael Bond six years later.
After the queen’s death aged 96, and a 70-year reign, they have found themselves reunited.
Paddington even wrote on his Twitter account after the queen’s death was announced: “Thank you Ma’am, for everything.”
Among the thousands of flowers, many children have left drawings of Paddington, while the youngest have left colored-in pictures of the bear.
In one, the queen was pictured from behind holding Paddington’s hand with the moving message: “I’ve done my duties Paddington, please take me to my husband.”
Another drawing showed Paddington in front of Big Ben, next to the queen wearing a crown. Yet another showed Paddington beneath a rainbow with the words “we will always miss you” in a child’s handwriting.
Elsewhere, there was a drawing of the bear lifting his hat and a message: “There is only one queen.”
“It’s so sweet. I still can’t get used to it,” said one woman from London, showing off a bear accompanied by a drawing.
Paddington was not the only soft toy there, with other well-wishers leaving stuffed animals or even toy corgis, the queen’s beloved dogs.
“They will miss you,” one child had written under a sticker of some corgis.
Horses were also a popular choice due to the queen’s love for riding, but the tide of commemorative gifts was proving too much to bear for Royal Parks, which looks after eight historic London parks.
“We would prefer visitors not to bring non-floral objects/artefacts such as teddy bears or balloons,” it said on its Web site.
“We’d prefer that marmalade sandwiches and other foodstuffs were not left because of the negative impact to the park’s wildlife,” a Royal Parks spokeswoman added.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the