Queen Elizabeth II: ‘I cried more in this past 12 hours than I have in my life’

Glenn Purvis from Dromore was speaking to the News Letter as he went to lay flowers at Hillsborough Castle in tribute to the Queen.

He said that his first thoughts after news broke of the monarch’s death were “devastation”.

He added: “I lost my monarch, a member of my family. It is just absolutely dreadful. I have cried more in this past 12 hours than I have in my life. She was a wonderful woman. I was really really fond of Her Majesty. She has always been there. I was born in 1967 and the Queen has just been a part of our family.”

Hillsborough resident Wilton Paton said the mood in the town was very different on Friday.

“Yes, I see a lot of people carrying bouquets and flowers up [to the castle],” he said. “I think people will be sad because she was part of the village for 70 plus years.”

The news had a particular impact on his household as his wife works as a guide in the castle and had met the Queen several times.

“She found her very nice and very pleasant - like all the Royal family. They are all nice when they come here.”

He added: “We were all very sad when the news broke. About lunch time I put on the television and we didn’t really watch anything else till bedtime about 10 o’clock that night.”

Stephen and Angela Quinn from Yorkshire were holidaying in Co Armagh when they heard the news, so they travelled to Hillsborough to lay flowers.

Like everybody else she was “very upset” she said. “We knew the Queen has not been as well as she has been, and she looked as if she was deteriorating health wise. She met the new Prime Minister on Tuesday but we never expected this to happen so suddenly.”

Stephen agreed. “We are very shocked. You see her doing her duties and then got the news yesterday through the media that she wasn’t very well and all of a sudden she is not there.” Angela added: “It is a bit of a shock. We have not known another monarch .. we are both 70 now, so we have only known the Queen.”