Following Queen Elizabeth's death on Sept. 8, royal fans honored the late monarch by the dozen with Paddington Bear toy and marmalade sandwich tributes—a reference to Elizabeth's Jubilee skit with a CGI Paddington.
Prince William was even handed one of the plush bears during his walkabout in Windsor shortly after his grandmother's passing.
Of course, the sheer number of bears gifted in tribute meant the Royal Family had to do something meaningful with the toys so that they didn't just end up in landfill (while the younger royals may have been allowed to keep a couple of them, there's only so many stuffed animals one kid can handle).
The solution came via Queen Consort Camilla: The bears will be donated to children's charity organization Barnardo's. Camilla took over the patronage for Barnardo's from Elizabeth in 2016, according to Sky News.
To mark this lovely gesture, the Royal Family released an official portrait of Camilla posing next to a whoooole bunch of Paddingtons (but nowhere near all of them).
Sharing the photo to Instagram, the royals wrote, "Please look after this bear
"The Queen Consort is pictured with some of the 1,000 teddy bears that were left in tribute to Queen Elizabeth, and will shortly find new loving homes with @barnardos_uk children’s services. The bears have been scrubbed up to look their best, before they are delivered to their new home.
"The bears are currently being well looked after at Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and in the Royal Parks nursery located in Hyde Park.
"The photograph was taken by @chrisjacksongetty at Clarence House on 13 October 2022 - the 64th anniversary of the publication of the first Paddington bear book."
My heart might just explode.
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