Yesterday, I woke up crying, as it was Queen Elizabeth’s funeral. May her soul rest in peace.

In 2013, I was fortunate enough to meet and speak with HM Queen Elizabeth ll at St James’s Palace in London. So I felt I had some personal connection to her.

In the early hours of yesterday before I went to sleep, I went live on my Asexualise YouTube channel to tell the full story of how I met Her Majesty The Queen. You can view this episode by watching the video below, or by clicking through the link here https://youtu.be/sto9lXLt_N8 (Trigger Warning suicide mention!)

It was January 2013, around 7pm, when I had finished work and was on my way home, that I saw someone walking across the bridge at the end of Fore Street in my city of Exeter, in the UK.

She was looking down over the edge, and looked like she was about to jump.

I walked towards her softly so as not to startle her.

We got into conversation about why she wanted to end her life.

I thought it was because of a particular reason and I was correct. A reason I cannot divulge, to respect her privacy.

She agreed I could phone the police, as I held her up against the rock face by one hand and phoned the police on my mobile with the other hand.

The police called for an ambulance.

But by the time I had got her to change her mind about jumping, she had crept down the rock face too far to get back up and she had drunk too much alcohol for me to pull her back up as she was too heavy, and I would have gone over her head first into the water under the bridge as it was flooded because of the rain.

I was unable to continue to hold her up as she was not able to hold herself against the rock face any longer, and she plummeted into the water head first.

Still with the police on the phone, I rushed across the bridge and down the bank and straight into the water with my coat and work suit on and lifted her head and nose out of the water so she could breathe.

I saw her in the hospital the next day, with a dislocated pelvis and damage to her arm. But she was alive and would recover in 6 months.

But by April, she was walking again using a stick, as we met up.

And some time later she fully recovered.

This article below, was in my local paper for saving her life.

I was a Health Buddy at the time for community service volunteers (CSV) in association with BBC Radio Devon.

They gave me a certificate of achievement for saving her life.

And the person whose life I saved, put me forward for a Good Citizen’s Award, which Devon and Cornwall Police gave me at an awards ceremony.

That year it was CSV’s 50th Anniversary, so I was one of only 4 members of CSV South West region, to be invited to St James’s Palace to meet and speak with HM Queen Elizabeth II. Only 2 out of the 4 got chosen to speak to her, and I was one of those people. The other person had left their position at CSV, so did not go.

 

I told Queen Elizabeth that I was a Health Buddy for CSV and I got a Good Citizen’s Award for savings someone’s life.

She said, “That’s Good.”

As her husband was alive but poorly at the time and was meant to be there also, but wasn’t, I asked her how he was, and she said, “He is doing well and at Sandringham.”

That was it.

Short and sweet. Just like her.

I thought she was even more beautiful in real life, that her photos. And down to Earth.

The Palace was huge and had a real throne.

I loved that time with her and the whole experience.

It’s a found memory I will cherish forever, and honour until I die and beyond.

Queen Elizabeth passed away at 96 years old. The same age as my Grandma, when she died in 2014.

Queen Elizabeth was also the same star sign as me, a Taurus, and I love that.

I could not watch the funeral as it was way too upsetting for me, and one of my asexual friends arrived back in the UK, in my city, from Hong Kong yesterday, and she really needed my help to move her stuff into her new student accommodation, so I agreed.

It was good for me to help a friend who was also really happy to see a friendly and familiar face after a 13 hour flight, and delays and cancellations to public transport due to the funeral in London, rather than me sat blubbering in my flat all day.

I also wanted to remember the Queen Elizabeth as she was.

As always, stay ACE.

Love

Sandra xx

(P.S. I realised by the time I finished writing this, I didn’t publish it until Wed 21st of Sept, at 00.50am, so saying it was yesterday I woke up crying, was factually inaccurate from when I published it, but not when I actually started to write this post. 19th of September2022, was the actual funeral day, so I woke up crying on that day.)