A man from Devon spent seven hours crafting a unique tribute to the Queen following her death last week – creating a picture of Her Majesty and the late Prince Phillip on a piece of wood.
Richard Manning, 29, who is a pyrography artist, was heartbroken after hearing the news that Queen Elizabeth II had passed away, so he decided to pay tribute to her in a very special way.
With a piece of wood and an Antex Fire Writer (similar to a soldering iron), Richard merged two of his favourite pictures of the Queen and Prince Phillip and made the unique design.
The stunning final result shows the couple gazing at one another with their arms interlinked.
“After last week’s tragic news, I wanted to recreate this moment of eternal love, especially now that hopefully they have been reunited,” Richard told NeedToKnow.Online.
“I think, like so many, I just expected the Queen to be around forever. It was the most surreal day.
“I think the Queen meant to me what she means to the vast majority of the country. She was a British icon, and stood for everything right.
“I have endless respect for the Queen. Committing her life to her country from such a young age is nothing short of an inspiration.”
Following the tragic news last week Richard, who creates these pieces of art for a living, knew straight away he wanted to do something to honour the Queen.
Although his tribute took him seven hours to create, he believes it was worth every minute.
He said: “There was a real sense of sadness which sounds weird because I didn’t know her personally.
“But I heard someone say the other day that she was like a grandma figure to all of us and I thought that was a strangely fitting way to describe her.”
“I feel like my art can touch the hearts of my followers. This really is more than just a job to me.
“Although I dedicated a lot of time to this piece, if it brings a smile or sense of warmth to one person’s face during a time of sadness then it’s seven hours well spent.”
After creating his piece of art, Richard posted it onto his business Facebook group and it instantly caught people’s attention.
The post, which now has more than 800 likes, was highly praised by users online.
Someone wrote: “Great job!! Beautiful!!”
“Absolutely stunning,” said another user.
Another person said: “Absolutely beautiful, well done!”
“That’s beautiful and poignant,” added someone else.
One person said: “That’s absolutely brilliant and beautiful Rich Manning “
“Amazing work, maybe a corgi one to go with it,” said another user.
Richard added: “Just knowing that I’ve helped someone see a situation differently or helped their loss by helping regain a smile gives me huge satisfaction.
“I am amazed by how many people it’s touched in a positive way and that feeling is worth every second of them seven hours.”
