Luke Evans says UK lost its 'grandmother' after death of Queen Elizabeth

Luke Evans says the UK has lost a "grandmother" after the death of Queen Elizabeth.

The 43-year-old actor - who has done a lot of work with the Prince's Trust - was flying when he heard that the monarch has passed away aged 96, and it made the Welshman want to "come home to London".

Appearing on Tuesday's episode (13.09.22) of ITV's 'Good Morning Britain', he said: "I was flying to New York [from LA] and as they called us for the plane they announced she'd died and it felt like we've lost our grandmother and all I wanted to do was come home to London."

Luke also opened up on the parallels to the Queen Mother's death in 2002.

He added: "The Queens mother died the day I arrived in London to live as a teenager and it felt like we were mourning together."

Through the Prince's Trust, Luke has also worked with King Charles III during his time as the Prince of Wales, a title which has now been past on to his son Prince William.

He said: "Charles made me feel a million dollars finding something I'm interested in and talking about it...

"The prince's trust has helped so much over 50 years and still is for young people who may not have had the best start in life."

Meanwhile, Luke's comments about the queen were echoed by 'Ted Lasso' actress Hannah Waddingham, who admitted her death had hit her "far worse" than she expected.

She told Variety: "It makes me emotional to think about it.

"I sat with my dad on the sofa and I watched it all night until I couldn't keep my eyes open because I couldn't believe it. It is like a grandmother dying.

"It hit me far worse than I thought it would and the enormous pressure that our King has on his shoulders now."

The queen's death was announced on Thursday (08.09.22), with a Buckingham Palace spokesman saying at the time: "The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon.

"The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow."