Many people only got to see the Queen on TV, while some met her in person during her tours in Canada, but one Cambridge man worked for the Queen for more than a decade.
The announcement from Buckingham Palace on Sept. 8 that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II had passed away left Ray and Ann Hawkins broken-hearted.
“I doubt many people can say they slept in Buckingham Palace many times, Saint James’s Palace many times, and got to meet the Queen and shake her hand,” said Ray Hawkins.
When he was 16-years-old, Ray joined the British army and became part of the Coldstream Regiment - one of the two regiments tasked with guarding the royal family.
“As I said when I was 16 and joined the army, she became my boss that day,” said Ray.
He said “once you’re a guard’s man you’re a guard man for life.”
Ray said serving the Queen is an honour and a privilege he takes very seriously.
“I haven’t cried since I was 16, and I probably still won’t cry, but [I’m] very, very sad,” he said. “It’s upsetting that we’ve lost someone like that in the world.”
Anne Hawkins, who grew up in England, said she remembers the day she met the Queen.
“She came down the steps with two guards on either side, and she’s walking towards this little tiny wee figure, and I said ‘oh my god that’s the Queen and she’s going to talk to us.’ She didn’t, but I thought I was there and it was amazing it was just so thrilling,” she said.
According to Ray, the Queen will go down as an all-time great monarch.
He said she’s going to be remembered as the greatest Queen Great Britain has ever had.
He hopes she will be remembered for a life committed to the service of others.
“She did nothing but service to the public I don’t think anybody in history has been as well served to the public,” he said
