"The teddy bears will all be professionally cleaned and delivered in the coming weeks," the press release read.
Buckingham Palace is all set to donate over 1000 Paddingtons and teddy bears to Barnardo's children's services that were left outside Royal Residences in London and Windsor as a tribute to Queen Elizabeth. "The teddy bears will all be professionally cleaned and delivered in the coming weeks," the press release read.
🏷️🧸Please look after this bear
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) October 15, 2022
The Queen Consort is pictured with some of the 1,000 teddy bears that were left in tribute to Queen Elizabeth, which will now be donated to @barnardos.
The bears have been scrubbed up to look their best ahead of arrival at their new home. pic.twitter.com/IfMJnyHyXj
On Saturday, Buckingham Palace, The Royal Parks, and Barnardo’s children’s charity took the decision to gift the Paddingtons and teddy bears to Barnado's children services. It is a non-profit organization that Queen Elizabeth, in 2016, passed on to then Dutchess of Cornwall. "The teddy bears are currently being well looked after at Buckingham Palace, Clarence House, and in the Royal Parks nursery located in Hyde Park," the press release stated. Buckingham Palace also released a picture of Queen Consort Camilla with the Paddingtons and teddy bears, which was taken in the Morning Room at Clarence House on the 64th anniversary of the publication of the first Paddington bear book.
In June, Queen Elizabeth joined the famous British children's book and film character in a sketch to open the Platinum Party at the Palace. The hilarious skit included the late monarch hosting a tea for Paddington and revealing that she keeps a marmalade sandwich in her handbag. The Platinum Party was reportedly kept a top secret and no one from the royal family knew about it until they were watching it. Prince George and Princess Charlotte were excited, smiling, seeing their great-grandmother have a fun time with Paddington.
However, thousands of tributes from flowers to teddy bears were left outside Royal Residences in London and Windsor following the death of Queen Elizabeth on Sept 8th, 2022. Many also left tributes at the two official tribute areas in Green Park and Hyde Park. "Later in September, The Royal Parks charity, with the help of Shire horses and almost 200 volunteers, began sensitively clearing the tribute gardens," read the press release.
Barnado's Chief Executive Lynn Perry MBE thanked for the project and also recognized the work that Queen Elizabeth did for the charity "for over 30 years" and promised to "look after these bears who will be well-loved and bring joy to the children we support," according to PEOPLE.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was our patron for more than 30 years. We are honoured to give homes to the teddies left in her memory. The bears will be well loved and bring joy to the children we support🐻💚@theroyalparks pic.twitter.com/QDtE41xq6e
— Barnardo’s (@barnardos) October 16, 2022
"We are incredibly grateful to Her Majesty The Queen Consort for her support in helping us to raise awareness of the needs of vulnerable children and young people in the UK so that we can continue to support them through our vital services," the statement read.
Paddington's Twitter page had given a special tribute to Queen Elizabeth after her death. They tweeted, "Thank you, Ma’am, for everything."
References:
https://www.royal.uk/over-1000-paddington-and-teddy-bears-be-donated-barnardos
https://people.com/royals/paddington-teddy-bears-left-queen-elizabeth-death-donated-children-hospital/
Cover Image Source: Twitter/RoyalFamily
