TWO people from Teignbridge were among the thousands who travelled to London to pay their final respects at the Vigil for Queen Elizabeth II in the Great Hall at Westminster Palace.

Nicola Huckerby, from Bovey Tracey, and Brian McPhee, from Teignmouth, appeared on BBC Spotlight news after queuing for hours to take part in this historic event.

Brian told viewers after a six hour queue to get in: ‘I had the honour serving in the military for a long time so she was my commander in chief as well, so that was another reason to come up.

‘Over her 70 years reign she gave the country so much of herself – honour, duty, respect, I just felt it was a small price to pay to come up here from Teignmouth and spend however long was necessary to go and pay my respects, which I did.

‘And I’m happy I did it.

‘I got to the far end of the queue at 6.30 this morning down by Blackfriars, opposite St Paul’s (Cathedral) and I managed to pay my respects six hours later so that’s nothing at all.

‘It was well worth it for the experience and I would have done it for 30 hours just to pay my respects.

‘When you’re in the queue and before you get to Westminster Hall it’s very jovial, everyone is happy and everyone’s communicating and enjoying the weather and the company and being in London alongside the Thames.

‘As soon as you get in the hall, it all changes. There is just deathly silence and then everyone just pays their respects as they should do.’

Nicola, who met the Queen in 1999, told viewers: ‘She was like a Nan figure to so many people.

‘She really was the Queen of the World and it is just about paying your last respects really.

‘You know that you’re witnessing a moment in time that nobody in your lifetime has seen before and it will be a long time before we get another Queen.’

Having met the Queen in 1999, Nicola added: ‘She was a real person and not just somebody you read about as I actually had a few words with her like so many millions of other people across the world, because she was that type of monarch.’

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