Toronto man among last to meet Queen Elizabeth in Canada: ‘Definitely surreal’
Global News
He was just nine years old when he met Queen Elizabeth II in 2010, but with her recent death, Robertson Hollingsworth is beginning to realize the significance of that brief moment.
His interaction with Queen Elizabeth II was only a few seconds long, but that’s all Robertson Hollingsworth needed to make a memory that’ll last a lifetime.
As the queen was readying to leave Canada on July 6, 2010, following a nine-day tour of the nation — her last visit to Canada — she was greeted by a nine-year-old Hollingsworth who was standing near her plane at Toronto Pearson International Airport, holding a bouquet of flowers.
The meeting was quick: “I remember her coming up (and) asking if the flowers were for her. So I bowed and said ‘Yes, they are,’ and handed them to her,” a now 21-year-old Hollingsworth told Global News on Tuesday at his Scarborough, Ont., home.
That moment was just over 12 years ago, but with the death of the 96-year-old queen last Thursday, Hollingsworth is starting to understand just how historically significant that brief interaction was.
“The fact that I was one of the last people to see her on Canadian soil is pretty big,” he said.
“It was definitely surreal to find out that she had passed, and that was honestly one of the first things I thought of — was that I was able to meet her.”
Elizabeth’s death last Thursday has been met with a wave of grief across the globe. Sitting on the throne for 70 years, she was the longest-reigning monarch in British history, and is the only British monarch many people have known in their lifetimes.
The queen has been succeeded by her son, King Charles III, who has promised to follow her example of “selfless duty” during his reign. Charles is now the head of state, not only in the United Kingdom and Canada, but also in 13 other countries including New Zealand, Jamaica and Australia.
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