Visits bearing tributes gather in London to pay respects to Queen Elizabeth II

LONDON — Tributes in the form of flowers, notes and stuffed animals are growing outside London’s Buckingham Palace as mourning for Queen Elizabeth II enters its second day.

LONDON — Tributes in the form of flowers, notes and stuffed animals are growing outside London’s Buckingham Palace as mourning for Queen Elizabeth II enters its second day.

A large crowd gathered at Hyde Park as the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery fired a royal salute in the Queen’s honour, with 96 shots to be fired, one for each year of her life.

Visitors who hailed from around the world carried bouquets to lay in nearby parks of Buckingham Palace, where thousands of people have come to pay respects.

A stuffed Paddington Bear, cards, pictures and handwritten notes were among the tributes that were piling up at the base of trees that line the road to the palace.

News footage showed similar scenes unfolding outside other royal residences across the U.K., including Balmoral Castle in Scotland, where the Queen was photographed meeting the new prime minister this week.

Royal residences are to be closed to the public until after the Queen’s funeral but the British Royal Family is inviting people to bring tributes in the meantime.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2022.

Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press