Lieutenant Governor Sir John Lorimer has spoken about his memories of Queen Elizabeth II and the Isle of Man’s relationship with the monarchy.

Ahead of his attendance at the state funeral on Monday, the monarch’s representative on the island recalled the number of times he met the Queen and spoke of his hope that the new King would visit the island.

The veteran, who enlisted as a soldier in 1981 and has served as the Chief of Joint Operations and the defence senior adviser to the Middle East and North Africa, said: ‘She was my commander-in-chief and I met her a number of times in different scenarios at different events, what always struck me is how interested she was in people. She made people feel very at ease, very relaxed. She always, I felt, made people feel valued.

‘I always used to go away, having met her, sort of uplifted and that’s what I will take away in terms of my memories.

‘We used to talk about a lot of things, always what struck me was her wisdom, her knowledge.’

He added: ‘Once we were talking about Scotland and her face would light up because my family came from very close to Balmoral, and obviously Scotland was very important to her as it is to me.

‘She had a wonderful sense of humour and a real sort of twinkle in her eye and when you got onto something that she was really interested in or knew a lot about, you could see that.’

He recalled an occasion in which he was at a small event to which the Queen unexpectedly turned up. She and Sir John struck up a conversation.

‘It was just so easy to engage with her and she was able to draw, out of anyone, their story to find out about them and she expressed such interest in people.’

Following the official accession proclamation, which took place at the governor’s residence on Sunday, there will be a second ceremony on Tynwald Hill today (Friday).

Sir John will preside over the event in his position as Lieutenant Governor, he said: ‘I would encourage people on the island to attend, I think it will be an historic, momentous occasion.’

He stated that it was important to hold the proclamation at the same time as the nations in the United Kingdom.

‘It was just obviously an important thing for myself, the President of Tynwald and the Chief Minister of the Isle of Man Government to be there to signify that Her Majesty the Queen had died, but also that King Charles III is now our liege lord, as it said, is now Lord of Mann,’ he said.

He added that he was now looking forward to working with the new monarch.

‘I’ve worked with King Charles quite a lot,’ he said. ‘He was colonel in chief of my regiment and we would often have events where he would attend and I would be hosting him.

‘In King Charles we will have a superb monarch so there’s a sense of recognising the extraordinary last 70 years but also looking to the future as well.’

Sir John will represent the Isle of Man at the Queen’s funeral at Westminster Abbey on Monday.

‘I intend to visit the lying in state as well to pay my final respects to Her Majesty the Queen, because again I am representing the island,’ he said.

He added that the Isle of Man had a good relationship with the monarch.

The Queen visited the island five times and she presided at Tynwald, on Tynwald Day, twice.

‘I’ve seen this year with the platinum jubilee how much people think of her by the number of events going on, by the various activities that have been done to recognise the jubilee,’ he said.

‘I know because I’ve spoken to people that they are so sad about her passing, and they’ve been able to pay their respects in various ways as we’ve got books of condolences, and I think that connection between the royal family, specifically Her Majesty the Queen but also His Majesty the King, is very strong with the island.

‘I hope that in due course His Majesty the King will come and visit the island for us to be able to, in person, pay our respects to him.’