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.
Robertson Hollingsworth, 21, holds a photo of him and Queen Elizabeth II at his home in Scarborough, Ont., on Sept. 13. Hollingsworth met the queen when he was nine as part of her last tour in Canada in June and July of 2010.
Aaron D’Andrea/Global News
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.
While many around the U.K. and world offer well wishes to Charles, they are taking the time to pay their respects and share stories of the queen, whose state funeral will be held this coming Monday.
Toronto man reflects on being ‘one of the last people’ to meet Queen Elizabeth in Canada
A lot of those tributes are coming in from Canada, from elected officials like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who said on Sept. 8 he had “trouble believing that my last sit down with her was my last,” to everyday Canadians like Hollingsworth who were lucky enough to meet the queen.
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During her reign, the queen visited Canada 22 times and referred to it as her home away from home. While she met many Canadians during her time in the nation, it was Hollingsworth who was among the last to have an interaction with her in what would be the queen’s last visit to Canada.
Just before Hollingsworth met the queen on July 6, 2010, his parents got a call from a family friend involved in the queen’s visit to see if they had any children who would be willing to present the monarch with flowers before she left Canada.
