Prince Edward and wife Sophie met mourners in Manchester today just days before the Queen’s funeral.
Mancunian Matters spoke to some of the people in the crowd – including two friends who just missed out on the royal visit…
Shirley Hodson, 61, Newton-le-Willows with her friend Linda missed a chance to see the royals by only a minute. Shirley said: “We’ve come from 25 miles away, from Newton-le-Willows. We got to the station in time but we couldn’t get on the car park because it was full so we’ve had to go to the next town to catch a train which took us to Piccadilly.
“We got a taxi and ran down the hill towards the cathedral but they’ve gone just before we got here. I’m just so upset. We wanted to see Prince Edward and Sophie and we’ve missed them by a minute, which is worse than missing them by an hour.
It would have just been lovely. Because we love Sophie, Prince Edward’s wife, she’s so gorgeous and she meant so much to the Queen and spent a lot of time with the Queen. She was a rock for the Queen, so we just wanted to see her and say thank you for looking after the Queen.”
Another member of the crowd – Nick Patel, 39, from Chorley – said: “He’s one of the quieter of the four, isn’t he? I don’t know whether that’s just because he’s the youngest, but I’m sure he’ll do a superb job – as do all the rest of the family.”
At the Manchester City Library, Damian Hodge was among the crowd who turned out to see Prince Edward and Princess Sophie.
A lawyer, he was on a trip away from his home in Wrexham to see Britpop band Starsailor at the O2 and was just passing by as the crowd gathered.
“It’s a sombre time,” he said.
Damian will watch the funeral at home with his family, and said that they “had been glued to the TV since last Thursday.”
He went on to describe the last week as “a strange and sombre time.”
