The Queen and I: Scots fondly remember meeting the monarch

As the nation marks the death of Queen Elizabeth II, we talk to Scots who have fond memories of meeting Her Majesty on her countless trips north of the border.

The schoolgirl

I practised my curtsy. It had to be done carefully. She said it was lovely

A schoolgirl who presented the Queen with a painting of them both revealed how she promised to store it among the priceless artworks in the Royal Collection.

Agatha King was only five and undergoing treatment for leukaemia when she gave the monarch her painting at the opening of the Scottish Parliament in 2016, along with not one but two bouquets.

Remembering the meeting, Agatha, from Cupar, Fife, said: “I remember practising my curtsy which had to be done carefully by putting my left foot forward and the right, slightly behind and bending at the knee.

“The Queen smiled and said, ‘What a lovely curtsy’ and, on seeing my painting of us both, said it was really good and passed it over to her lady-in-waiting who added that it would be kept in the Royal Collection.

“I had painted the Queen in a red polka dot dress and hat standing beside me. We spoke for only a few seconds but I will remember every one of them and how lovely her smile was.

“She was wearing a turquoise dress and coat and hat, my favourite colour. Looking back, I was probably too young to realise the significance of meeting the Queen but it was a lovely day out in Edinburgh and I knew from the number of people and photographers there that it was going to be unforgettable.

“She made me feel really special as though I was the most important person that day.”

Agatha, whose ambition is to become a teacher like her mum, revealed that on the day of the meeting her parents had brought a bouquet from a florist in their home town and were then given another one by officials. “So we presented the Queen with two bouquets that day, which made her smile,” added the 11-year-old.

The royal appointment came about after she was nominated by MSP Willie Rennie to present the Queen with a bouquet. He had been touched by her stoicism throughout her treatment for cancer, which was diagnosed when she was just four.

More than five years on, doctors have told Agatha’s family that she in now in remission. Her mum, Karen, a special needs teacher, said: “We often think of the day Agatha met the Queen but especially when we heard the news of her passing. It was devastating because she was such a role model to us all.

“She had a smile that is unforgettable and we feel privileged to have been asked. It made our daughter feel really special as she underwent what was to become two and a half years of treatment.”

Agatha’s dad Kevin, an engineer, said: “They are lovely memories of the Queen from a time when we were going through challenging months with Agatha’s treatment.”

The charity fundraiser

Princess Anne asked if her mum had been telling me about the new corgis…then said they were a menace

It is a moment Scott Cunningham will never forget.

The award-winning fundraising champion, who is blind, could scarcely believe it when the Queen approached him at an event at Holyrood in Edinburgh and crouched down to clap his loyal guide dog, Travis.

“I had been told she was wearing a long black dress with a green stripe down the side, so when I realised she had bent down to pet Travis, who was lying down, I said to her, ‘I beg your pardon if you get covered in hairs’ but she told me not to apologise and said it was the highlight of her night,” Cunningham, from Larkhall in Lanarkshire, recalled.

“She told me she felt more comfortable in the company of dogs and horses and she was so interested in finding out more about guide dogs. I explained how the dogs had saved my life and I had taken on challenges and adventures I would never have dreamed of as a result.

“She was so interested in me living life as a blind person and how I could cope with everything, thanks to my guide dog.”

Cunningham, who lost his sight nearly 30 years ago due to a degenerative condition, had been invited to the 2009 event, which marked 10 years since the Scottish Parliament opened, by his then-MSP, Karen Gillon.

“Karen tells me she remembers the smile on the Queen’s face as she talked to me about guide dogs,” said Cunningham.

“As a big royalist, I was bursting with pride to be there but we had been told it was unlikely Her Majesty or the Princess Royal, who was also in attendance, would have time to talk to anyone.

“Then, just a few steps before I entered the room, I was told we would be saying hello to both of them. I had no time to be nervous, so I said, ‘Very pleased to meet you, ma’am’ and moved on. I was already on cloud nine, but when Her Majesty came over to me later and said she was pleased to meet me, you could have knocked me over with a feather.

“I shook her hand twice, and she told me she could happily stand and talk to me all night, and that she didn’t mind her dress being covered in Travis’s hair. She was so at ease with Travis. She talked about how much she loved the countryside and everything about Scotland, and then told me about her new pack of corgis.

“Princess Anne, who I’d met previously at the opening of the RNIB centre in Edinburgh, then came over and asked if her mother had told me about her new corgis. I said she had and Princess Anne told me they were menaces!”

The Queen had a love of animals from a young age and described her corgis as family. Her parents first acquired a corgi, Dookie, in 1933, and when she was 18 she was gifted her own, called Susan. Every one of her more than 30 corgis since was descended from Susan.

She bred and raced horses for more than six decades, and also owned Labradors, cocker spaniels and a dorgi – a corgi and dachshund cross – over the years.

Cunningham, who was made an MBE at Buckingham Palace in 2011 – meeting Princess Anne with Travis at his side – has now raised almost £300,000 for charity but says nothing will ever top the moment he met the Queen.

“She commended me on my positive attitude and said it was a pleasure and an inspiration to meet me. Me, from a council house in Larkhall, being called an inspiration by the Queen? I couldn’t believe it. I remember every single second of meeting this incredible monarch who meant so much to me and my family.”

The piano tuner

The Queen was in front of my car for 20 minutes

Piano tuner Gordon Bell was only 31 when the monarch awarded him the Royal Warrant – one of the youngest people in the UK to receive the honour, and now believed to be the only royal piano tuner left in Scotland.

The father of two, who has been a regular visitor to Balmoral Castle to maintain its three pianos, says the honour now carries even greater importance and poignancy following the death of the Queen.

Bell, 46, who is married to Lisa, 41, said: “I was awarded the Royal Warrant in 2008. I had been in business for only five years. She obviously believed I was worthy of it. The staff at Balmoral called Aberdeen’s Music Hall to find out who tuned their pianos and they recommended me.”

His first visit to the royal residence was nerve-racking but he was invited back and was later given the “by Royal Appointment” tag. The businessman, who supplied the piano for Classic FM’s 30th anniversary concert at St Margaret’s in nearby Braemar last Sunday – when King Charles III, then the Duke of Rothesay, was in attendance – remembered the first time he saw the Queen and Prince Philip.

“I took my wife Lisa to Balmoral while I was working there and we had joked that we were going up to see the Queen,” said Bell. “I later nipped out for a break with Lisa, who was sitting in the car waiting for me and reading a magazine about celebrities, and I spotted the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh walking down the driveway with the Corgis 50 yards away.

“They had been standing for 20 minutes in front of my car chatting to their housekeeper. Lisa had failed to lift her head to see the biggest A-list celebrity of her lifetime in real life! She did finally get her reward when we met the Queen at the royal garden party at Balmoral in 2012.

“The housekeeper introduced me as the man who tuned her pianos and we talked about the John Broadwood piano she had been given to mark her Silver Jubilee in 1977. It takes pride of place in the drawing room at Balmoral. Broadwood was a Scot who died in 1812 in London and his company is the oldest established piano manufacturer in the world. The Queen thanked me for looking after it.”

Bell visited Balmoral with his mother in April. He said: “We took pictures at the gates. My mum said it was one of her proudest moments.”

Of the Queen’s death, he said: “I feel deep sadness. But I also feel profound gratitude. By granting the Royal Warrant she has given me a great platform to succeed in business, it is her endorsement, and as a family we are proud of it and will treasure it always.”

The refugee

We worked so hard on Begin The Beguine and she seemed so happy to hear us

Shreeti Khatani, 54, who fled Ugandan dictator Idi Amin’s rule with her family when she was four, has fond memories of performing with her school band for the Queen 42 years ago.

The young recorder player’s family had moved to Edinburgh, where her dad worked as a bricklayer, after arriving in the UK.

And, aged 12, she was to meet the Queen at Wester Hailes Education Centre.

Khatani, who now lives in Derby, remembered: “I was in the school band and our teacher told us that the Queen was coming to see us play. My mother Lalita was delighted as she had met the Queen in 1952 when she was on the tour of Africa shortly before her father died. We practised our best piece, Begin The Beguine, endlessly to give the performance of our lives in front of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.

“It was all worth it when she clapped loudly for us after the final note was played. The Duke of Edinburgh came over and spoke to us and the Queen did not stop smiling as she scanned all our faces.

“There must have been just over 20 of us in the school band. Because I was just 12 I did not realise the magnitude of meeting the Queen but now realise that I was very privileged.

© SYSTEM

“She seemed really kind and pleased to be there and put us all at our ease. Everyone went to great lengths to make the school really good for the visit and the wooden floor was polished like we had never seen it.

“Wester Hailes was an area with its share of social challenges and problems but lit up when the Queen visited.”