Buckingham palace, the royal park of Barnardo’s children’s charity, announced the donation of more than 1,000 Paddingtons and teddy bears which were left to pay tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II on 15 October 2022.
The Royal family announced the information on their official website, wording, “The Royal Parks and Barnardo’s children’s charity are pleased to announce that over 1,000 Paddingtons and teddy bears left in tribute to Queen Elizabeth outside Royal Residences in London and Windsor will be donated to Barnardo’s children’s services.”
“The teddy bears will all be professionally cleaned and delivered in the coming weeks.”
In addition, while sharing the announcement, the website added, “Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth passed the patronage of Barnardo’s to the then Duchess of Cornwall.
To mark the donation announcement, a new photograph of The Queen Consort has been released with some of the hundreds of Paddingtons, and teddy bears gifted to the children’s charity.
The teddy bears are currently being looked after at Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and the Royal Parks nursery in Hyde Park, London.
Thousands of tributes, from flowers to teddy bears, were left outside Royal Residences in London and Windsor following Queen Elizabeth’s death on Thursday, 8 September.
In central London, many were left at the two official tributes 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.
The teddy bears collected during this process will join those left as tributes on the Long Walk outside Windsor Castle in being donated to Barnardo’s children’s services.
Those involved in the project hope the teddy bears will be much loved for many years by children supported by Barnardo whilst understanding the story behind the bears and how they came to be donated.
