Three months after the death of the Queen, Princess Kate made sure to pay tribute to her in a subtle, yet beautiful way. When held her second annual Christmas carol concert at Westminster Abbey in December 2022, the Princess of Wales made sure there was a clear reference to the late monarch in a moving homage.
Decorating the beautiful Christmas trees sourced from Windsor Great Park and donated by His Majesty The King, Kate placed among the branches mini Paddington bears and Paddington bear baubles.
The late Queen Elizabeth II had the previous summer became linked to Paddington bear, another British national treasure. The two had appeared together in a short comedy video during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June.
When the Queen died, over 1,000 Paddington bears and other teddy bears were left outside Buckingham Palace in tribute to her. And later,, in October, Buckingham Palace and the royal parks revealed that the hundreds of bears left in tribute to the Queen would be professionally cleaned before being delivered to Barnardo’s, a children’s charity.
Camilla was pictured delivering on this promise, donating them to the charity in a “Teddy Bear’s Picnic” for vulnerable children.
She described it as “a pleasure” to re-home the toy bears, before telling the children: “Please look after them carefully”.
Prince William also admitted to getting “choked up” over the sight of the Paddington Bear tributes.
The Sussexes also had a tribute to the Queen on their Christmas tree, in a heartfelt gift from Meghan to Prince Harry. The Duke explained in his book Spare: “One present was a little Christmas ornament of…the Queen! I roared. What the—? Meg had spotted it in a local store and thought I might like it. I held it to the light. It was Granny’s face to a T.
“I hung it on an eye-level branch. It made me happy to see her there. It made Meg and me smile.”
