Elizabeth II: "Football was never far from her thoughts" (Debbie Hewitt, chair of The FA)

"Throughout her reign we felt great affection for Her Majesty, and football was never far from her thoughts, particularly the England teams," wrote Debbie Hewitt MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire), chair of The Football Association, in a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II on 09/09/2021

The death of Queen Elizabeth II, born on 21/04/1926, Queen since 06/02/1952 and crowned on 02/06/1953, was announced by Buckingham Palace (London, ENG) on Thursday 08/09/2022. Her funeral will take place at Westminster Abbey (London) on Monday 19/09/2022.

As a sign of mourning, all football matches in the UK scheduled for the weekend of 10 and 11/09/2022 were postponed.

"Queen Elizabeth II was a long-standing and dedicated patron of the FA, and I would like to give a heartfelt thank you to Her Majesty for the decades of support that she has given to English football," said Debbie Hewitt in her tribute which News Tank Football has reproduced in full below.