• They followed her coffin from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey.
• William and Catherine greeted well-wishers at the monarch’s Sandringham estate.
• The royal couple went on a walkabout for an hour on Thursday.

After done the same for his mother Diana when he was a teenager, Prince William acknowledged on Thursday that walking behind Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin had brought back terrible memories.

William, now known as the Prince of Wales, and his wife Catherine addressed mourners who had left flowers at the monarch’s exclusive Sandringham estate in eastern England.

“Doing the walk yesterday was challenging. It brought back a few memories,” According to footage from Sky News, William, 40, told a group of well-wishers who had visited him.

On Wednesday, William and his younger brother Prince Harry followed their grandmother’s casket as it was carried from Buckingham Palace to Westminster.

The brothers, then 15 and 12, made history in 1997 by following the coffin of their late mother Diana.

William told a group of female supporters, some clutching flowers, “It’s one of those moments when you think to yourself: I’ve prepared myself for this, but I’m not that prepared.”

At Sandringham, the royal family customarily celebrates Christmas together, with Queen Elizabeth staying until February.

“How proud his mother would have been of him,” receptionist Jane Wells, 54, recalled, “and he stated how hard it was yesterday because it brought back memories of his mother’s funeral.”

“He told us how difficult it was yesterday, how it brought back memories of walking behind his mother’s coffin.” said Caroline Barwick-Walters, 66, of Wales.

On Thursday, William and Kate went on a walkabout for about an hour, greeting people and admiring floral tributes to Queen Elizabeth.

The late monarch’s casket will once more be followed by King Charles III and other members of the royal family on foot before and after her funeral on Monday at London’s Westminster Abbey…AFP

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