Catherine Zeta-Jones says Queen Elizabeth II’s death makes her 'homesick but proud of my heritage'

The Welsh actress said the monarch had been "a real inspiration". Credit: PA

Catherine Zeta-Jones says she felt like she “lost a real family member” following the death of the Queen and that the news had made her “homesick” but “proud of my heritage”.

The Welsh actress from Swansea said the monarch had been “a real inspiration” and a figure of “power and respect”.

Tributes from famous faces poured in from both home and abroad following the announcement of Queen Elizabeth II's death on Thursday (September 8).

'I just felt like a little piece of me had gone'

The Queen appointed Liz Truss to be prime minister on Tuesday (September 6). Credit: PA

Speaking at the Disney’s D23 Expo on Saturday, Zeta-Jones told PA: “I’m a big royalist and I love the royal family and what they do for our country.

“As a girl growing up in Wales, in Britain, in the UK, I had my mum who was the strongest, safest person to be with but I also had a Queen.

“And I don’t just mean that she was a Queen sitting on a throne, we’re at Disney where queens and princesses are the topic du jour, but a woman who was a real inspiration.

“I’m in a country that has never had a woman as a figure of leadership, of power and of respect, and so I shall miss her dearly.”

Zeta-Jones said King Charles III would do “an exceptional job”. Credit: PA

The 52-year-old added: “I don’t know whether it’s because I’m British but I just felt like a little piece of me had gone.”

“There will never be a queen in my lifetime again, but it was a very strange feeling. (I felt) very homesick, very proud of my heritage.”

Zeta-Jones she believed King Charles III would do “an exceptional job” as “the baton was passed”.

Back in the UK, other British acting talent including Daniel Craig, Dick Van Dyke, Stephen Fry, Dame Joanna Lumley and Dame Helen Mirren all paid their respects to the monarch and her contribution to the nation.

Musical stars including Sir Elton John, Sir Rod Stewart and Sir Paul McCartney all reflected on their encounters and experiences of performing for the Queen.

Sir Paul shared decades of intimate memories with the monarch that had come “flooding back” after her death, which stretched from 1965 to 2018, when he had made her “giggle slightly”.

Sir Elton dedicated his final live show in Toronto on Thursday to the Queen, as did pop megastar Harry Styles, who encouraged audiences at his show at Madison Square Garden to applaud the monarch’s seven decades of service.