A man who is so devastated by the death of Queen Elizabeth II has revealed that he plans to travel 815 miles to attend her funeral.
Robert Frazer, 35, originally from Manchester currently lives in Zell am See, Austria, and is all set to hop on a plane to pay his respects to Her Majesty in London next Monday (19 September).
The holiday resort manager will arrive in the UK this coming Saturday (17 September) and plans to get up at 4am the next day to avoid queues and see the Queen lying in state.
He will then watch the funeral live in a public place on Monday.
Robert has even booked accommodation in central London for a night as he wanted to be certain he can get to her casket in time and mourn.
“I want to make a real physical gesture of how the monarchy is important to me,” Robert told Jam Press.
“It’s easy to write comments on websites, but actually going and doing it feels significant.
“Also, this is a unique moment – there’s not going to be anything like this or on this scale ever again.
“The monarchy is fundamental to who we are as a people and tells a tale over 1,000 years old.
“The Queen herself embodied diligence and duty and reminded us of our better selves and her quiet reserve kept up our national character when we didn’t always live up to it ourselves.
“She was the anchor holding us down in a stormy sea.”
After discovering the shocking news about the Queen’s death at work, Robert knew he had to return to his homeland and make the effort to pay homage in person.
He added: “I was just passing the time scrolling through Twitter when tweets started popping up. “I felt shocked and bewildered.
“I had palpitations and could feel my heartbeat accelerate.
“I am flying back into the UK on Saturday night.
“It took me hours of searching but I found a hotel room in central London – it’s cost a fortune, but I didn’t want to risk public transport not working and making it a wasted trip.
“I will probably start early as possible on Sunday morning, maybe even as early 4am, as I am aware the queues to see the Queen lying in state will take many hours.
“I am hoping to meet up with friends back in the UK to find a public place to watch the funeral itself on Monday, I hope that there will be screens erected somewhere.”
A state funeral for Queen Elizabeth will take place at 11am on Monday the 19 September at Westminster Abbey.
