'She has been there all our lives': York pays tribute to The Queen

But there was one constant: 'She has been there all our lives'.

Christina Higgins, 38, had come from Market Weighton for the screening.

"I wanted to watch the funeral, but didn't want to sit at home by myself, feeling sad, " Christina said. "The Queen has always been there. She just was always The Queen. There was always The Queen there, as sure as the sun coming up."

Annette Ness, who came from Filey with her friend Ruth Wiles, said: "I have come here to watch with other people, rather than sitting at home. This is a once in a lifetime event. She has been there all our lives."

Annette's friend Ruth added: "She has been somebody to look up to, to admire, for so long. At the end of the day she was the head of the country, but she was also a mother, and an inspiration."

Stephen Lewis (Image: Stephen Lewis)

Ainslie Waller. Picture: Stephen Lewis

Ainslie Waller has always felt a very special connection The Queen. That's because she was an 'accession baby' - born on the day The Queen acceded to the throne just over 70 years ago.

Ainslie, from York, remembers once as a child going to her primary school on her birthday. A 21-gun salute was being fired to mark the anniversary of The Queen's accession. "I told everyone it was for me!" she said.

She, too, went along to Vue in York this morning to watch the funeral in company with others.

"She has been a constant presence in our lives, very dignified, but of the people, too," Ainslie said. "And she's respected by all sorts of people in different countries around the world."

Becky Sharp, from Newton-on-Ouse, said she had come to watch the funeral because she wanted to 'pay my respects to a lady the like of which we will never see again'.

"She is all we have ever known, she's always been there. She represents everything that's British. She stands for a sense of duty, an indomitable spirit.

"Even right to the end, she saw us through very uncertain times, Covid, the war in Europe. They broke the mould."

Stephen Lewis (Image: Stephen Lewis)

Becky Sharp and Kim Lambert

For Huw Harrhy, who was on holiday in York with his friend Lauren Vickers, The Queen was the only monarch he'd ever known.

"I'm 23, so there are people a lot older than me, and she's also the only monarch that they have known," he said. "She has represented us around the world in a way that I think no Prime Minister could do. I like to think that King Charles can do the same."

"She was a figurehead, uniting this country," added Lauren, 24.

Jonathan Allison said the Queen's passing had marked the 'end of an era'. "She's always been there," he said. "I wanted to be with other people for the funeral. If I was at home, i would have been watching alone."

Jason Sheeran and his wife Joanne were on holiday in York from Kettering, and decided to come to Vue to watch the funeral in company with others.

"The Queen was just a wonderful woman," said Joanne. "It feels like we have lost a member of the family. It's just really hit me."

Her husband added: She felt like someone you knew really well, although really you didn't know her at all. But there's a lot of emotion. We just felt compelled to pay our respects."