Prince William described how walking behind the Queen’s coffin ‘brought back a few memories’ of his mother’s funeral.

The new Prince of Wales and heir to the throne marched side-by-side with Prince Harry during Wednesday’s poignant procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall.

It mirrored the heart-breaking scenes 25 years ago when the brothers walked with their father behind Princess Diana’s coffin during her funeral in 1997.

Speaking to mourners outside Sandringham on Thursday, William, 40, said the walk had been ‘challenging’, adding: ‘It brought back a few memories.

‘It’s one of these moments where you kind of think to yourself “I’ve prepared myself for this”, but I’m not that prepared.

‘It’s this weird kind of thing, because we knew she was 96.’

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He and wife Kate, also 40, who now holds Diana’s old title the Princess of Wales, stepped out of a dark Range Rover near to the Norwich Gates and took time to read messages on the many tributes.

Thousands of well-wishers gathered behind metal barriers to see the couple, who stayed for almost an hour speaking to people.

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William told retired dry cleaner Peggy Butcher: ‘This sea of flowers is unbelievable.’

He also extended his thanks to everyone for going to the Norfolk estate on Thursday.

Ms Butcher, 89, and from March in Cambridgeshire, said afterwards: ‘He seemed to care about us because we cared about the Queen.’

Receptionist Jane Wells, 54, of Long Sutton in Lincolnshire, said: ‘I said how proud his mother would have been of him, and he said how hard it was yesterday because it brought back memories of his mother’s funeral.’

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

She said she told William ‘thank you for sharing your grief with the nation’, and that he replied ‘she was everybody’s grandmother’.

The Queen is currently lying in state at Westminster Hall until her state funeral on Monday.

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