London's Tributes to the Queen

Green Park became a garden, and every window in the city found its own way to say goodbye. September 2022.

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💐 A City of Flowers

London does not usually do public emotion, which made September 2022 stranger and more moving. The government asked people not to leave flowers at the palace gates, so the Royal Parks carried them into Green Park, where they spread tree by tree into a garden the size of a field.

🌻 The Day After

We visited on September 20, the day after the state funeral, when the crowds had thinned and the flowers were at their fullest. Volunteers moved quietly along the rows, composting wrapping and straightening cards. It smelled like a florist's shop the size of a park.

🇬🇧 Everywhere Else

The tributes were never only in the park. They were in tailor's windows and buffet windows, on the Piccadilly Lights and the pavement chalk, on ten thousand flag poles. For ten days the whole city was the memorial.

Green Park

The Floral Tribute

The Royal Parks gathered London's flowers into Green Park, and the grove became a garden. We walked it the day after the funeral.

Royal Parks Floral Tribute sign on a fence at Green Park, London — **The Floral Tribute**The Royal Parks' sign at the Green Park entrance. By the time we visited, the day after the funeral, the flower garden had been growing for twelve days.

Field of floral tributes spreading beneath plane trees in Green Park — **The Field**Flowers ring every tree in the grove. The Royal Parks moved bouquets here from the palace railings each night, and mourners kept coming long after the funeral.

Ring of flowers and cards surrounding a plane tree in Green Park — **Rings Around the Trees**Each plane tree collected its own ring of flowers, cards, and flags, tended and tidied by volunteers.

Dense carpet of tribute flowers, flags and drawings in Green Park — **A Carpet of Color**Sunflowers, roses, flags, and children's drawings, deep enough in places that the grass disappeared entirely.

Look Closer

Left Among the Flowers

Cards, drawings, portraits, and one bear in a red hat. The details said more than the acres.

Handwritten cards and children's drawings among tribute flowers — **Handwritten**Cards, drawings, and letters among the bouquets. Most were addressed simply to Ma'am.

Small posy of flowers tucked into the fork of a tree trunk — **In the Bark**A posy tucked into the fork of a plane tree. People found places for flowers everywhere the ground was already full.

Children's drawings pinned to a tree above flowers and a framed portrait — **The Children's Wall**Children's drawings pinned in rows to the bark above a framed portrait. The youngest mourners were the most prolific.

Framed engraved portrait of young Queen Elizabeth among tribute flowers — **A Framed Engraving**A framed portrait of the young Queen propped among roses and sunflowers, weathering the September nights under plastic.

Knitted Paddington Bear with red hat among flowers and cards in Green Park — **Paddington**A knitted Paddington in his red hat, a corgi, and a marmalade-sandwich note. The bears arrived in such numbers that the parks eventually asked for flowers only.

Sunflowers, flags and portraits fixed to iron railings at Green Park — **On the Railings**Sunflowers, flags, and portraits woven into the park railings along Piccadilly, the tribute spilling out of the park itself.

The City

Streets and Windows

From Regent Street tailors to a Chinatown buffet, every window in London found its own way to say it.

Chalk pavement portrait of Queen Elizabeth II with dates 1926 to 2022 — **In Chalk**Pavement artist Julian Beever's chalk portrait, 1926-2022, drawn on the South Bank while the queue filed past behind him.

Queen Elizabeth II memorial portrait poster in a reflective shop window — **Front Windows**The official portrait in a shop window, the street reflected over it. Nearly every window in the West End carried something that week.

Chinatown buffet window with roast ducks and a Queen Elizabeth portrait — **The Buffet Pays Its Respects**A Chinatown buffet window: roast ducks, an eleven ninety five all-you-can-eat, and Her Majesty. London mourning at its most London.

Thai restaurant window notices honoring Queen Elizabeth with King Bhumibol photo — **Two Kings and a Queen**A Thai restaurant's closure notice beside a 1996 photograph of the Queen with King Bhumibol, both notes signed with condolences from the staff.

Framed portrait of young Queen Elizabeth with black mourning ribbon in window — **The Black Ribbon**A coronation portrait with a black mourning ribbon across the corner, alone on a plinth in a Regent Street window.

Shop window with framed Queen portrait on easel and ceramic corgi figurine — **The Corgi Keeps Watch**A gilt easel, a young Queen, and a china corgi in a tailor's window. The details were where the affection showed.

Banner portrait of Queen Elizabeth in pink hat hanging over a London street — **The Pink Hat**A banner of the Queen in her pink hat over Regent Street, smiling down on the crowds walking to the palace.

The Processional Way

The Mall in Mourning

Flags the full length of the red road, half-masted ensigns on Admiralty Arch, and the palace waiting at the end.

Union flags lining The Mall toward Buckingham Palace under a cloudy sky — **The Mall Dressed**Union flags line the full length of The Mall toward Buckingham Palace, hung for the state funeral procession.

Police officers walking the empty flag-lined Mall in London — **Closed for History**The Mall closed to traffic and walked by police, the funeral a day away. The red road had never looked so long.

White Ensign flags at half mast on Admiralty Arch under storm clouds — **Admiralty Arch**White Ensigns at half mast along the top of Admiralty Arch, under a sky that behaved appropriately all week.

Admiralty Arch with flag at half mast and empty barriered road — **The Arch**Admiralty Arch face-on, its flag at half mast, the road beneath it barriered for the processions.

The Mall at night lined with Union flags, Buckingham Palace lit at the end — **The Mall at Night**Flags lit against the night sky, the Victoria Memorial and the palace glowing at the far end. We walked it near midnight and met almost no one.

The Vigil

Piccadilly and the Watch

The Piccadilly Lights went dark except for a cypher. At the palace railings, the crowds stayed past midnight.

Piccadilly Lights screen showing the EIIR royal cypher and dates 1926 2022 — **EIIR**The Piccadilly Lights gave over the whole screen to the royal cypher for the mourning period. No advertising, just the monogram and the dates.

Piccadilly Circus fountain statue with EIIR memorial screen behind — **Eros and the Cypher**Piccadilly Circus with the memorial screen behind the Shaftesbury Memorial. People sat on the steps just to look at it.

Poppy wreaths at the base of the Guards Memorial bronze figures — **The Guards Memorial**Regimental wreaths at the Guards Memorial on Horse Guards Parade, laid in the first days of mourning.

Night crowd at Buckingham Palace railings with Victoria Memorial lit — **The Railings at Night**Crowds still at the palace railings near midnight, the Victoria Memorial floodlit behind them.

Crowds filling a London street walking toward the funeral procession route — **The Morning Of**St James's Street on the morning of the funeral, every side street feeding people toward the procession route.

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London's Tributes to the Queen

💐 A City of Flowers

🌻 The Day After

🇬🇧 Everywhere Else

The Floral Tribute

Left Among the Flowers

Streets and Windows

The Mall in Mourning

Piccadilly and the Watch

Live Prices & Availability

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