Veteran leaves war medals as north-east continues to pay tribute to Queen

War medals have been left in tribute to the Queen at Balmoral as the north-east continues to pay tribute to Her Majesty.

The eyes of the world have been on Aberdeenshire since the death of Queen Elizabeth on Thursday, with her coffin being driven through Royal Deeside and Aberdeen on its way to Edinburgh yesterday.

Huge crowds gathered from Friday and into the weekend at the gates of Balmoral, as people paid tributes to Britain’s longest serving monarch of 70 years.

Although the crowds are quieting down at the gates of the Aberdeenshire castle, as the attention moves away from the north-east, people were still making the trip to Balmoral to lay flowers and other tributes today.

The war medals left by a veteran, J B Billingham, a corporal, were in tribute to the Queen.

Her Majesty was the head of the Armed Forces.

The medals were joined by countless amounts of flowers, cards, pictures, Paddington Bear and corgi tributes.

Regular buses are still running from Ballater to Balmoral to take people to pay tribute, with cars still not able to park near the estate.

Nothing but the greatest of respect for Queen Elizabeth II’

A number of people were at Balmoral today, including Matt McNulty from Stockport in Greater Manchester, who was in the area for a reunion with friends and came to to pay tribute to Her Majesty, saying:

“I’m not a great royalist, but I have nothing but the greatest of respect for Queen Elizabeth II because nobody could have done the job she did as well as she did. She was a great symbol of the best of British.”

Hi wife Karen Fleming told the Press & Journal that she remembers when the King George VI died in 1952 and the subsequent coronation of the Queen when she was just a child.

As well as this, she feels that she has a personal connection to Her Majesty, saying: “The Queen is five months younger than my mum, I’m five months older than Prince Charles and my daughter’s about the same age as Prince William.

“It’s as if our family has followed the royal family all through the decades and the Queen looks very much like my mum. So seeing all these newsreels, it’s almost like seeing my mum all over again, in the fashions of the 50s and 60s.”

Joining Mr McNulty and Mrs Fleming at Balmoral was their friends Diane and Rodney Rosland, who live in Arizona in the United States.

Paying tribute to the Queen, Mr Rosaland, who is Norwegian, said: “I’ve been following the royal family forever and it was a big shock.”

Another person who was at the Aberdeenshire estate paying their respects was Bruce Wallace from Denny in Stirlingshire, who was carrying a red, white and blue pom pom out of respect for the Queen.

When asked why he and his partner Fiona Kerr travelled the 200-mile roundtrip from central Scotland to pay tribute, he said: “I’m just paying my final respects, she’ll be much missed and much loved, it’s hard to take in.”

Mr Lo, a Chinese student who lives near Stirling, said he travelled from near Stirling to Aberdeenshire to “remember the Queen” after he saw people on social media coming to the estate to pay their tributes.

He added: “I think all the tributes made by people were really respectful to the Queen.”

In Ballater, outside Glenmuick Church, colourful flowers and tributes were left beside a commemorative stone that was unveiled by the Queen for her Diamond Jubilee in 2012.

‘She was such a wonderful woman and inspirational’

Paying tribute was Deeside local Claire Brown from Aboyne, who said: “We’ve all grown up knowing her, it’s been said so many times by everybody else. She was such a wonderful woman and inspirational.”

Jean Lintott from Huntly came to the village to pay tribute to Her Majesty, saying: “The Queen’s been in my life all of my life, it’s all I’ve ever known. She deserves the full park covered in flowers as far as I’m concerned, you cannot stop noting the colours.”

Like many people, she felt she had personal connections to the UK’s longest serving monarch. “The unusual thing is my mother was born in the same year and she had Charles at the same time as my mum had my brother.

“Then when Charles married Diana, I got married to my first husband and when they had William, I had my daughter, so a there’s lot of connections. Someone once said to me, don’t link dates, but that’s good links to date,” she added.

Also looking at all of the flowers that were laid in Her Majesty’s memory was Glenda Lingwood and her husband David, who are currently visiting Deeside on holiday from Norfolk.

Mrs Lingwood said the Queen “will never be replaced”.