Camilla: I will always remember Queen's smile

Queen Elizabeth II "carved her own role" after she came to the throne, Camilla, the Queen Consort, has said in a personal TV tribute to her.

Camilla recalls the Queen's "wonderful blue eyes" and her "unforgettable smile", in the BBC programme.

It was broadcast shortly before a national minute's silence held across the UK on Sunday at 20:00 BST.

She also said the Queen "has been part of our lives forever".

The Queen Consort was four when Elizabeth II ascended to the throne in 1952 and she tells the documentary: "I'm 75 now and I can't remember anybody except the Queen being there."

Remembering the monarch, Camilla described "those wonderful blue eyes... when she smiles they light up her whole face".

"I will always remember that smile."

The Queen Consort's tribute to her late mother-in-law was shown in a special hour-long BBC One programme at 19:00 on Sunday.

In it, she told how her mother-in-law had carved out her own role for many years from the "difficult position" of being a "solitary woman" in what was a male-dominated world.

"There weren't women prime ministers or presidents. She was the only one so I think she carved her own role."

The Queen Consort, who had known the monarch for decades, said the Queen had a clear demarcation between her public duties and private life, highlighting her summer breaks at Balmoral in Scotland as a moment for "her enjoyment".

"Although she was probably working, you know with her red boxes throughout, she could have her family to stay, she could do the things she loved," she said.

She also spoke of how the late Queen saw the funny side of a shoe mishap on the Queen Consort's wedding day in 2005.

"I probably wasn't firing on all cylinders, quite nervous and, for some unknown reason, I put on a pair of shoes and one had an inch heel and one had a two-inch heel," Camilla said.

"I was halfway down in the car before I realised... she could see and laughed about it and said, 'Look, I'm terribly sorry'."

She added that the Queen had a "good sense of humour".

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Ahead of Platinum Jubilee celebrations to mark her 70 years on the throne earlier this year, Queen Elizabeth had said it was her "sincere wish" that the then-Duchess of Cornwall would become known as Queen Consort when Charles became King.

That ended years of debate over what she would become known as.

The Queen also called on the public to support her daughter-in-law and son when he became the new monarch.

Speaking about his wife during his first speech as monarch, King Charles said: "I know she will bring to the demands of her new role the steadfast devotion to duty on which I have come to rely so much."

Events and moments of reflection have taken place across the UK on Sunday. Near Falkirk, Scotland, 96 lanterns - one for each year of Her Majesty's life - were lowered into the pool of reflection at the foot of the Queen Elizabeth II Canal at 19:30.

On the final full day of the Queen's lying-in-state, thousands have continued to queue as the government warned people not to travel to avoid disappointment if it closed before they could enter the hall.

Members of the public will be able to see the coffin at Westminster Hall until 06:30 on Monday.

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