MANILA, Philippines — Two months before Queen Elizabeth II died last September 8 in Balmoral Castle, Scotland, among the last people she met was a Filipina — May Parsons, the nurse who administered the world's first COVID-19 vaccine on December 8, 2020.
Last July 12, the Queen and then Prince Charles (now King Charles III) awarded Parsons the George Cross, the highest honor bestowed by the British government for non-operational gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of enemy. Parsons was awarded as a representative of the United Kingdom's National Health Service and Social Care.
"Incredibly humbling to see the photos of the day and reimagine what that day has been like," said Parsons in an Instagram post, where she was photographed talking to the Queen, with the future King Charles III sitting beside his "mummy."
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Parsons was among the few ones allowed to witness the Queen's State Funeral procession from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch, as seen on her Instagram stories.
To give a glimpse of what happened during the procession, Filipino legal counsel Nicolo Bernardo, who is in London to visit his law post-graduate school King's College, exclusively shared to Philstar.com his snaps from yesterday's procession. — Videos by Atty. Nicolo Bernardo, editing by Philstar.com
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