Farewell to nation's grandmother

Garibaldi the clown lays flowers outside St James's Palace

By Claire Hills BBC News Online outside St James's Palace

The six-year-old perched on top of his grandfather's shoulders surveying the crowds, was wide-eyed and a little confused.

"Are all these people here for the special lady?" he asked.

They were. All of them.

By mid-morning, hundreds had gathered outside St James's Palace and Clarence House - the Queen Mother's official residence - in London to pay their respects to the woman they were calling "the nation's grandmother".

Trevor Gardner remembers 'her winning smile'

As the sun broke through grey clouds, casting a shaft of light over the palace roof, a woman wept quietly at the gates.

"I lost my Nan when I was very young and we all liked to think of the Queen Mum as our 'extra' grandma," she said.

Her sadness was echoed by Trevor Gardner, from Washington, in north east England.

He brought his family to Buckingham Palace because "it seemed right that we should".

He said: "She was just such a nice lady and had such a winning smile."

People from all over the world gathered in the Mall, filing past the announcement of the Queen Mother's death pinned to Buckingham Palace gates, then joining the queue to sign the condolence books inside St James's Palace.

The Queen Mother is 'well loved' in Tokyo

By lunchtime on Sunday, the six books were already packed full of names and messages from people as far afield as Auckland, Indonesia, Germany, Vienna and the USA.

Sandra Leach from Dartford in Kent left home as soon as she heard the news.

"It was something I needed to do. I was very upset.

"She is like my own grandmother - a dignified, brave woman."

Japanese student Sayuri Yamaoka is staying with her and said she was glad to be in London.

The 18-year-old from Hyogo, near Osaka, who brought a bouquet of flowers to lay at Clarence House gates said: "I am very sad. Everyone knows her in Japan where she is well loved.

Gray Morrison - 'she was a wonderful woman'

"I am pleased to be in London so I can pay my respects properly."

Her flowers lie besides hundreds of similar tributes, but each has a very different, personal message.

A note attached to one, from a family in Thailand read: "With your death we lose a great part of history, a great lady and a great inspiration."

A photograph of clown, the Great Garibaldi presenting the Queen Mother with flowers, had a message pinned to it saying: "Sleep on and take your rest. God bless."

As us Americans would say - she was a classy old broad!

Gray Morrison from Florida

The clown himself spent much of the morning walking up and down the Mall outside the palaces, occasionally stopping to examine the bouquets left by well-wishers.

American Gray Morrison preferred to remember "the good lady" with a smile on his face.

He laughed: "As us Americans would say, she was a classy old broad!"

"I came here, quite simply to pay my respects, not only to a wonderful woman but also to Britain - she represented all that is good about this great country."

Mr Morrison, originally from Florida, but now living in London, added: "She was human, someone with an infectious smile, who wasn't afraid to speak her mind, and who had so much dignity."

And as one policeman, manning the condolence book queue outside St James's Palace put it: "They don't get anymore dignified. We have lost a national treasure."