• Catherine Zeta-Jones expressed her sorrow at “losing a real family member” in an emotional tribute.
• The 52-year-old Welsh actress admitted that the news of the late Queen had left her sad but also “proud of my heritage.”
• Zeta-Jones claimed she contacted her family back home and “felt like a little piece of me had gone.”

Following the passing of the British queen, Queen Elizabeth II, Catherine Zeta-Jones expressed her sorrow at “losing a real family member” in an emotional tribute. The 52-year-old Welsh actress admitted that the news of the late Queen had left her sad but also “proud of my heritage.”

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Zeta-Jones claimed she contacted her family back home and “felt like a little piece of me had gone” when she spoke about it on Saturday. “I’m a big royalist and I love the royal family and what they do for our country,” she told a news agency.

“I’m in a country that has never had a woman as a figure of leadership, of power and of respect, and so I shall miss her dearly,” she said. Zeta-Jones continued, “I don’t know whether it’s because I’m British but I just felt like a little piece of me had gone.”

“There will never be a queen in my lifetime again, but it was a very strange feeling. (I felt) very homesick, very proud of my heritage.” The Legend of Zorro actress also lauded the Queen, describing her as a person of “power and respect” and “real inspiration.”

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She also expressed support for King Charles as “the baton was transferred,” stating she thought he would do “an exceptional job.” Zeta-Jones added her voice to the countless condolences from well-known figures that have come in from both home and abroad since the revelation of the Queen’s passing on Thursday. She was 96.