Queen Elizabeth II: West of England pays tribute

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II touched the hearts of many people across the world. Here in the West of England she has been described as having had "a very special gift" for making people feel at ease.

"I remember meeting her, being surprised by her piercing blue eyes and the way she stared right at you when you talked to her, as if there was no one else in the room of interest or of any matter at all."

Those were the words of Lord Lieutenant of Bristol, Peaches Golding.

As the Queen's representative in the city, Her Majesty held a special place in her heart, she said.

What enamoured her the most about the head of state was how she could relate to anyone she met.

"Everyone that I've ever spoken to has said, 'yes, what a tremendous presence she had'.

"She focused on you, she listened to you, and when it was time to move on, turned her heel and went and spoke to someone else and created the same amazing atmosphere.

"We were all in awe and wonder at her capabilities and prowess."

Royal biographer Penny Junor from Wiltshire said: "She was funny, she was a delightful character.

"Professionally you would never have really known that because she always kept this very neutral front presence to the world, which I think really was a very clever ploy, I suspect."

Throughout the Queen's 70-year reign, she visited the West of England on many occasions.

She marked some of the biggest technological advances in the UK, indulged her love of horse racing and also made an impromptu visit to a hotel in Bristol to escape from a snowstorm.

In 1958 the Queen made the first long-distance phone call in the UK - known as subscriber trunk dialling (STD).

She opened the service with a royal announcement stating: "This is the Queen speaking from Bristol.

"In a few moments Bristol subscribers will be able to make trunk calls up to a distance of some 300 miles."

The Queen also opened the Severn Bridge on 8 September 1966.

The royal car was the first to drive directly from England to Wales over the River Severn and the River Wye.

She also visited workers in Bristol while they developed Concorde - the first supersonic passenger-carrying commercial airplane.

In 1977, the Queen visited the old county of Avon to celebrate her silver Jubilee almost 50 years ago.

When she arrived in Bath, she was showered in half a million petals.

Accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, she was greeted by tens of thousands of people and was gifted a box of chocolates, as flags and bunting filled the streets.

While in 1981, the Queen had a more difficult journey to contend with when her car became stuck in a snowstorm.

To escape from the storm she sought shelter at the nearest Inn, the Cross Hands Hotel in Old Sodbury, near Bristol.

Hotel owner Robert Cadai said he would never forget how he offered her his final vacant room and cooked the Queen's supper in his flat.

"I'm glad it happened to me," he said.

"It's a nice thing for a person who comes from abroad to have experienced something like this."

A keen racing enthusiast, Her Majesty regularly visited the Cheltenham Festival in Gloucestershire.

It was a favourite pastime of hers, as was horse-riding, which she continued to do into her 90s.

Cheltenham Racecourse's former director Edward Gillespie OBE said that as well as the racing, she was always interested to learn who had cut the lawn or built the fences at the site.

"They know it doesn't happen by magic. The Queen was exactly like that, always interested, always fascinated," he said.

"I remember having a conversation with her about which way we mowed the grass.

"She said her father had a theory whether the horses should run with the nap of the grass or against the nap of the grass.

"They go faster with the nap, but if it rains it can be more slippy," he added.

The Queen's final visit to Somerset was to see the stables of champion horse racing trainer Paul Nicholls, in Ditcheat in 2019.

It was her first visit to Somerset since the 2012 Diamond Jubilee tour of the UK.

Mr Nicholls said she "loved seeing the horses and gave them all a carrot".

"She knew as much about them as we do," he said.

"She saw them run at Cheltenham and she knows what she is talking about and loved feeding them."

Author Jilly Cooper, who lives in Gloucestershire, said Her Majesty was a "wonderful example" of beauty and kindness.

"She was like a mother looking after all of us really. She had a lovely sense of humour," she said.

"She just looked after the country all that time.

"The whole nation loved her and will be heartbroken to lose her."

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