The 7-year-old daughter of Prince William and Kate Middleton paid tribute to Her Majesty during the solemn occasion.
Princess Charlotte, the 7-year-old daughter of Prince William and Kate Middleton, walked through Westminster Abbey to say goodbye to her great-grandmother. Along with her 9-year-old brother George, the pair were the only of the Queen’s great-grandchildren to attend the funeral. Their 4-year-old brother Louis did not come for the memorial as he was considered too young to join the rest of the family, reports PEOPLE. The Prince and Princess of Wales’s only daughter wore a long black coat and hat just like her mother. It was the first time the youngster sported a hat with a bow, a sweet grown-up gesture to pay tribute to the Queen. What’s more is that she also wore a small diamond brooch in the shape of a horseshoe, referencing her great-grandmother’s passion for horses and riding.
Horses were a big part of the Queen’s life right from a young age. In fact, she was just 16 years old when she first visited a racing stable. “She watched them do some gallops ahead of some big races that were imminent,” journalist and author Julian Muscat told CNN in 2018. “Afterward, she went and patted them on the head and loved the feel and the silkiness of their coats. The story goes that she didn’t wash her hands for the rest of the day.”
Others also recalled the Queen’s passion for horses including American trainer Wesley Ward who told Royal Ascot in 2016, “To sit with the Queen is a memory I’ll never forget for the rest of my life. We had a wonderful talk about the horses and she was very interested in talking to me, in as far as my horses kind of shoot to the front and I’ve been lucky enough to win a couple that way. And she was asking me all about my tactics and how I train them to do that. So I just kind of looked at her and I said, ‘Well, when you go to the front, they gotta catch you.’ And she said, ‘That’s what I tell my trainers’… It was just like you’re sitting talking to somebody who’s at the races. You’ve gotta kind of pinch yourself and realize you’re talking to the Queen of England.”
According to BBC, 2,000 guests arrived at the Queen’s funeral service at Westminster Abbey to pay their respects. This included King Charles III and the Queen Consort, the Princess Royal, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Duke of York, the Earl of Wessex and the Countess of Wessex. The Duke of Sussex, and the Duchess of Sussex were in the row behind them. The Prince and Princess of Wales sat across the aisle. Also in attendance were the Queen’s eight grandchildren: Prince Harry, Princess Beatrice, Lady Louise Windsor, Viscount Severn, Prince William, Princess Eugenie, Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall. Earl Spencer, Princess Diana’s brother, who was the late Queen’s godson was also present.
Dr. Denise Chaffer, President of the Royal College of Nursing, a guest at Queen Elizabeth’s funeral told PEOPLE the funeral was “incredibly moving and incredibly sad. It was such an honor for me to be representing the Royal College of Nursing there.” The Abbey had an “incredible atmosphere. People were so respectful and completely calm — you could feel the sadness in the air. I’m almost lost for words.” She also mentioned that the “scale of the contributions from the amount of people involved in the ceremony was incredible. It was so emotional and moving to see how people were respectful towards them and also understood that they’re grieving fans mourning. It was so moving seeing the children there. It was a coming together, for everybody there, of incredible grief and sadness,” Dr. Chaffer shared.
