A steady stream of people dropped by Government House on Thursday to sign a condolence book for the Queen, expressing their affection for the long-serving monarch.
Mary Humphreys happened to be on the Government House grounds for a regular picnic with friends, a number of them British-born like her, and took the opportunity to leave a word for a woman she greatly admired. “I thought: ‘Isn’t it appropriate that we should be at Government House today.’ ”
She called the Queen’s passing “very much the end of an era.”
Humphreys, 80, said she was born when George IV was ruling, but has spent 70 years of her life with the Queen on the throne.
The Queen leaves “a wonderful legacy,” she said. “She’s been so humble and yet so gracious, and has helped everybody.”
Humphreys said she hopes the type of reign the Queen had continues, adding that she is happy that her successor, Charles, is interested in climate issue
It will likely take a year to see how public perception of the Royal family might change under a new monarch, she said. “We’ve got to go through the funeral and settling down.”
Also at the picnic was Gaye Stone, who was born in Wales. She said it was “a very sad day for Britain and for people everywhere.”
“She was a great figurehead for our country.”
Terry Petch, who is in his 60s, said he was struck by the fact that the Queen had always been around.
“It’s like a rock, like an anchor,” he said. “It’s always been part of your life and then suddenly she’s gone. It just kind of hits you in the gut that suddenly she’s not there anymore.”
Part of the Queen’s legacy is her commitment to the role, “despite the fact that she was thrust into it in a way that she would never have able to foresee,” Petch said.
Ruth Nicholl remembers making scrapbooks with her sister for the Queen’s 1953 coronation. “She was a gracious woman with a kind heart, and in a sense I’m glad I knew her.”
Nicholl said she wishes Charles well as king.
Ajit Singh said he was born the year the Queen ascended the throne, and would sing God Save the Queen every Friday morning at school in Fiji.
He recalled attending a dinner held for the Queen in Calgary in 2005, when he worked in the lieutenant-governor’s security detail. “I was about three tables away from her.”
Visitors to Sidney’s waterfront on Thursday expressed shock and sadness at news of the Queen’s death, reflecting on her ascension to the throne at an early age and the challenges she faced within her family.
Ellen Lawson, 73, who lived in Scotland as a child, recalls sitting by a large radio to listen to the coronation of the Queen in 1953.
Then in her mid-twenties, the Queen was a stabilizing force after the Second World War, said the Metchosin resident. “She was kind of like the anchor in the storm of post-war England,” she said. “I remember every Christmas listening to [her] Christmas message.”
Lawson said she was happy that the Queen maintained her health and was clear-minded in her old age. News organizations reported that in June, the Queen rode a pony at Windsor Castle.
Bryan and Marina Fryer of Northumberland in northern England, who are in their 60s, were visiting family in the area when they heard of the Queen’s death.
The Queen reigned for “our entire lives,” said Marina Fryer, who once briefly glimpsed the monarch and Prince Philip in a car leaving Buckingham Palace in London. “We have known no one else.”
Since assuming the role at an early age, the Queen has been steadfast and dedicated to the job, she said. “She has done an amazing job over the years,” she said. “Her and [Prince] Philip were just amazing really.”
Bryan Fryer noted that he was sitting in a lawn chair facing the Union Jack flag flying at the Sidney waterfront when he learned the Queen had died. “We now have a king.”
At 99, Peggy Pearce of Saanich, who was raised in Birmingham, England, was born three years before the Queen, and says she admired the monarch, who represented stability.
The Queen had a “very difficult job and she did the best she could.”
Pat Williamson, 80, of Saanich, recalled seeing the Queen and Prince Philip entering the legislature building in Victoria years ago during a visit. “It was something to see — very impressive.”
Marijke van der Graaf, who lives in Sidney and is originally from the Netherlands, said the Queen was a “very brave person.”
“It can’t be easy being in the public eye your whole life.”
The past couple of decades or so were “really difficult” for the Queen, she said, pointing to the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997, and Prince Philip last year.
“I don’t think she ever recovered after her husband died.”
Robbie Lowe, 50, of Oyama in the Okanagan, said the Queen “lived a long life and did a lot of things for a lot of people,” referencing charity work she supported.
He pointed to her service during the Second World War. A teenager when the war started, Princess Elizabeth joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service at age 18 and trained as a driver and mechanic.
