Bouquets of flowers and messages of condolence are now piled high outside the gates of Balmoral.
Thousands of mourners have made their journey to the Queen’s private home to pay personal tribute to her.
The poor weather over the past 48 hours has not deterred those who felt it was right to come out and pay their respects at the spot where Britain’s longest reigning monarch died.
Today, even more mourners have made the journey to her Deeside home with some there as early as 7am.
Back at Balmoral this morning. The sheer volume of loving tributes left for the Queen and her family is overwhelming. People have been coming as early as 7am to pay their respects at the gates here. pic.twitter.com/UKhZcyox1Z
— Lauren Taylor (@ltaylor_DCT) September 10, 2022
Due to the large number of people, Aberdeenshire Council has set up a bus shuttle service running from nearby Ballater and Braemar.
Members of the public have come from near and far to leave flowers, handwritten notes and drawings.
Many have shared their personal memories of the Queen and spoken about what she meant to them.
The mass of tributes have now spread along the railings at the estate, with some added below the windows of the shop.
Saturday has also brought brighter skies to the north-east as groups of people are dropped off at the estate in stages.
Queues have formed across the bridge with people waiting for their moment to pay their respects at the gates.
In a nod to the Queen’s Jubilee sketch with Paddington Bear, one mourner has left a soft toy amongst the floral tributes.
Similarly, outside Holyroodhouse, a marmalade sandwich in a zipped plastic bag has been left alongside another Paddington.
‘The Queen made you feel so at ease’
Dundee University chaplain Fiona Douglas came to Balmoral to lay flowers in tribute to the Queen along with her husband Jeremy Crang and daughter Emily Crang.
She was fortunate enough to be invited to stay at Balmoral some years ago and recalled the Queen as a gracious host who always made people feel at ease in her presence.
Ms Douglas said: “It was a a great place and an honour to be invited to Balmoral, and something I will never forget.
“The Queen made you feel so at ease because of course you are very nervous but immediately she made you feel so welcome.
“What I though might have been a stressful weekend turned out to be incredible enjoyable with the Queen making you feel part of her family.”
‘A really significant event’
Tom and Monica de la Haye from Johnshaven visited the estate to pay their respects with children Rosa, Iris and Edith.
Tom said: “We just thought it was a really significant event that we wanted to be part of and we thought the girls would like to come up to Balmoral to pay our respects – it’s an incredible place.
Monica added: “They (children) got some sunflower seeds from Rainbows back in the summer so we grew those in garden and we brought those today, and we got some heather on the way up as well.”
Remembering the coronation
Anne Duncan, 79, from Aberdeen attended with Carol Sinclair and Aberdeen councillor Marie Boulton, saying:
“It’s hard to think we saw her on Tuesday shaking hands with Liz Truss and now she’s gone. I do remember the coronation and everything.
“I believe she’s going over the King George VI Bridge, my father was in charge of that job and he was introduced to the King and Queen at that time. I would like to go down to the bridge tomorrow to see her go over it, if I can get there I will.
“There will be a lot of people out tomorrow that’s for sure. It just feels strange she won’t be here every summer.”
A rock for the world
Spanish tourist Ursula Talg, who is on holiday in Scotland for four days with her family, paid her tributes at the estate.
The 47-year-old said: “We were in Skye when we heard she had passed away so we thought it was important for us to pay respect for a person who has dedicated all her life to a nation, even if it’s not our nation.
“It’s very nice scenery, a sad location but very nice scenery. When you think that one country has had one Queen for so long she’s not been a rock just for the country, but for the whole world.”
‘I brought sweat peas from my garden’
Anna Elliot, 50, from Urquhart in Moray travelled to the site to pay tribute, saying:
“We just came to pay our respects to Her Majesty and lay some flowers. We live in Moray so it was about an hour and a half away. It’s been lovely and I’m glad the sun came out for everybody, it’s lovely to be able to come here to pay our respects.
“I brought sweet peas from my garden because I know she loved sweet peas.”
‘Pay our final respects’
First Aboyne Scouts leader Bernie Cassie, 39, was at the estate to pay tributes.
Mr Cassie said: “We just came along today to pay our final respects to our Queen. We all promised our duty to her when we started scouts and now we’re making our final promise to her, and then we will make our promise to our new King.
“It was quite a poignant moment, the Queen’s a very special lady here in Royal Deeside and being patron of our Scouts a very respected lady as well.”
