Queen Elizabeth tribute: Derbyshire entertainer Bernie Clifton recalls monarch's great sense of humour and wonderful smile, calling her death 'a hammer blow'

Bernie, who lives in Barlow, said: “It’s heartbreaking and hard to believe she’s gone. She was a legendary figure with such a presence, a great sense of humour and a wonderful smile.”

He first met the Queen at the Royal Variety Show in London in 1979 during a period when Bernie and his ostrich were delighting families with their antics on the TV series Crackerjack.

Bernie said: “After my act, my friend Len Lowe told me ‘I was watching the Queen when you were on, she was laughing out loud and dabbing her eyes - she was crying with laughter’. When I was introduced to the Queen, she virtually laughed out loud again – her reaction to my performance was an ear to ear grin.

She said: ‘That was amazing, where do you get your energy from? I told her that I’d been in strict training for the last three months to make sure I was on form and she said: ‘well it really worked, thank you’.”

Fast forward 35 years and Bernie had his second meeting with the Queen at Buckingham Palace during a reception for the Grand Order of the Water Rats, of which Prince Philip was an honorary Companion.

Bernie said: “I was introduced and reminded her of our previous meeting and the ostrich.

She was not very tall and just looked up at me, raised an eyebrow and said: “Ostrich ? I said: Yes Ma’am I’m still riding the ostrich but these days it’s much, much slower.”

Then with a twinkle in her eye, she said: ‘Mmmm funny how things do get slower’…..and off she went.”

His photograph of meeting the Queen at the Royal Variety Show 43 years ago is among Bernie’s most treasured possessions. It has accompanied him around the world, travelling on the QE2 cruise ship where he performed shows for passengers and on his tours of Australia and South Africa.

READ THIS: Remembering the Queen’s visits to Derbyshire in pictures

Bernie, who is now 86, recalls learning about the death of the Queen’s father, King George VI, when he was an apprentice council plumber in St Helen’s, Merseyside.

He said: “I’d gone to fetch fish and chips and all the women in the shop were crying…there was a sense of bewilderment.”

The following year he watched Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation on his parents’ television set. He said: “We were the only house on the street to have a telly. It was as big as a fridge with a nine-inch screen and a big magnifying glass on a stand in front of it. If you didn’t sit square on to watch it, the image would be distorted like the hall of contorting mirrors in Blackpool. A guy was drilling in a workshop next door to our house and was causing interference on our television set and I was designated to go round and ask him to stop because he was spoiling the coronation.”

Bernie has also met other members of the royal family including the now King Charles III who he was introduced to after the Royal Variety Show six years ago.

The show’s host was David Walliams who made a running joke about top-of-the-bill Bernie Clifton being delayed in traffic as he introduced Lady Gaga, Robbie Williams and other world-class stars. The piece de resistance came when Bernie swept in on his ostrich, closely followed by David Walliams who was also riding an ostrich.

Bernie said: “When I was introduced to Prince Charles afterwards, he wagged a finger in my face and said ‘You were definitely over the top!”