Sir David Attenborough shares sweet memories of the Queen

Sir David Attenborough has shared his sweet memories with Queen Elizabeth II following the news of her death on Thursday.

The Queen died aged 96 at her Balmoral estate in Scotland on Thursday.

Attenborough, also 96, had met and worked with the Queen several times throughout his long career and her reign and last collaborated with Her Majesty in 2018 on the documentary The Queen’s Green Planet.

The documentary was filmed in aim to bring attention to the Queen’s ambitious project to form a global network of protected forests across 52 Commonwealth countries.

Attenborough described the Queen as “genuine” as he discussed his time working with the Queen to ITV News: “If there was something funny, she laughed in a genuine way.

‘[The Queen] was an expert at getting people to relax.

“When you met her you were well-aware that you were in the presence of someone who was extremely important to our society and yet she made it seem that you were meeting another human being with exactly the same conditions that all human beings have.”

The natural historian is seen in one fond part of the 2018 documentary engaging with the Queen in a rare moment of informality for the monarch, as she talked about climate change, before switching the topic to birthday presents.

Attenborough gave a tribute to the Queen following her death, joining a host of celebrities and politicians around the world who have also.

In a statement to the PA news agency, the legendary broadcaster said: “If there was a technical hitch, she wanted to know what it was, and if it had a funny side, she was quick to see the joke.

“Yet not for one second could you forget that you were in the presence of someone who had willingly accepted enormous responsibility and dedicated her life to serving the nation – that you were, in short, in the presence of royalty.

“The whole nation is bereaved.”

Attenborough’s memories shared of the Queen come as the new King Charles III arrived in London on Friday September 9 after being with the late monarch in Balmoral.

The Royal Family is now in a period of official mourning from now until seven days after the Queen’s funeral, the date of which has yet to be announced.