How Camilla Will Handle All The Paddington Bears Left For Queen Elizabeth After Her Death
After the heartbreaking death of Queen Elizabeth II, thousands of people paid their respects to the late monarch, including the official Twitter account of Paddington Bear, which sent out a simple message: "Thank you Ma'am, for everything." The tweet received more than 1 million likes, and many of the tributes created by mourners have featured the queen and her special friend, per Newsweek.
In fact, so many people left stuffed Paddington Bears — and marmalade sandwiches, his favorite snack — at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, and Balmoral Castle that the Royal Parks charity asked the public to stop. "We would prefer visitors not bring non-floral objects/artefacts (sic) such as teddy bears or balloons," the organization stated, per Fortune. "In the interests of sustainability, we ask visitors to only lay organic or compostable material."
Still, the tributes seemed to touch members of the royal family. King Charles III had his own Paddington Bear moment when he was greeted by mourners from Peru, with one holding a giant Paddington, who hails from the South American country. And William, Prince of Wales, admitted that he got "choked up" after seeing the Paddington tributes to his grandmother, per Hello!
But, now that the country's period of mourning is officially over, what will happen to all of the Paddington Bears left at the public memorial sites?
Camilla will donate the bears to a children's charity
More than 1,000 stuffed Paddington Bears left as tributes to Queen Elizabeth II will be donated to various children's hospitals by Camilla, Queen Consort. According to People, the bears will be sent to Barnado's children services, a nonprofit organization that the late monarch served as patron of for more than 30 years before passing it to Camilla in 2016. A press release revealed that the stuffed animals "will all be professionally cleaned and delivered in the coming weeks."
"We promise to look after these bears who will be well-loved and bring joy to the children we support," said Barnardo's Chief Executive Lynn Perry, per Yahoo!. "We are incredibly grateful to Her Majesty The Queen Consort for her support in helping us to raise awareness of the needs of vulnerable children and young people in the UK so that we can continue to support them through our vital services."
Until they are delivered, the bears are being "well looked after" at Buckingham Palace, at Clarence House, and in the Royal Parks nursery in Hyde Park.