Queen's funeral: Crowds gather in Coventry to share experience

A big crowd watched the funeral on a screen outside Coventry Cathedral

Hundreds of people have gathered to watch the Queen's funeral on a big screen in Coventry.

Karen Proctor and her niece Nienna Murphy were among the crowd who had travelled to watch the broadcast outside the cathedral.

"Our parents were not able to come so Nienna and myself wanted to represent the family," said Ms Proctor.

"We're big royalists in our family and it means an awful lot that we can share the experience."

Nienna Murphy and Karen Proctor were among mourners outside Coventry Cathedral

Her father and uncle had both served in the Coldstream Guards.

"Everybody has said she was just a perfect Queen, bringing people together, that wonderful smile and that cheeky little glint in her eye, she really was everybody's granny," she said.

"It just seemed right to be here," Ms Murphy added.

NHS worker Sarah Healy said the Queen's passing was the "end of an era"

NHS worker Sarah Healy, who watched the service with colleagues, said it was a "lovely but solemn" crowd that had gathered at the screening.

"I'm glad we can watch it like this," she said.

"It's our Queen, it's the end of an era isn't it. It's all we've ever known and we're all really upset about it."

The Gilbert family were among those to watch on the big screen

The Gilbert family were also among those watched the funeral outside the cathedral.

"I think the place was appropriate to come and watch it, just because of the Queen having come here after the war in Coventry, when the cathedral stones were being laid," said Mrs Gilbert.

"I found it very moving and the tone was just right. It was lovely."

Bhavani Natarajan and Kabir Nagadia said they had been glued to the coverage

University of Warwick students Bhavani Natarajan and Kabir Nagadia said they had been watching coverage of the funeral "constantly, ever since we got up this morning".

"Even when we were walking around, we were watching it on our phones," said Ms Natarajan.

"We are mourning the loss of the Queen because she was a person we always looked up to."

Mr Nagadia, who only arrived in Coventry from India on Sunday, said: "Everyone that I know has been mourning. It was justifiably a very great ceremony for her. "

Roger Walton and Pippa Cross said they wanted to watch the service with other local people

Roger Walton and Pippa Cross said they decided the watch the ceremony at the Rose and Crown in Wolston, near Coventry, "to be part of the community".

"Everybody in the pub was so quiet and respectful for the service," said Mr Walton. "Totally, totally different to what it usually is."

The wider Royal family "has done brilliantly," added Ms Cross.

"They've got their own private grief going on, and they've had to be in front of the media - what they've done all day and all week, they've been absolutely brilliant."

A complete guide to the Queen's funeral

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