LAWRIE McMenemy described the Queen as having an “aura” about her “but she was totally natural and made you feel normal”.

The legendary Saints boss shared his memories of meeting Elizabeth II, as the country mourned her death at the age of 96.

McMenemy met Her Majesty on three separate instances, as part of his national service with the Coldstream Guards, the 1976 FA Cup Final, and when he received his MBE at Buckingham Palace.

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Reflecting on his first experience of national service, McMenemy told the Daily Echo: “When you got called up for national service, you couldn’t choose which regiment you went into. You could have been in all sorts of different regiments.

“Because of my height. I was sent to the guards. Then there was five lots of guards – Scots, Irish Welsh, Grenadiers and Coldstream.

“Coming from the north was more Coldstream. After your initial training, you were told which one you were going to and that was the one for me.

“It just so happened that once you had done your training, there were three different battalions in the Coldstream – one, two and three. My group went to the first battalion, which happened to be at Chelsea Barracks.

“That automatically meant what you were going to be doing there was being on guard, mainly at Buckingham Palace for the Royal Family.

“You would be looking to see what time you were on duty. When you went out on guard, you were out there for two hours.

“During the day, you were where people could see where you were on guard. At night time, they added guards round the side and behind the gardens.

“At night time, you were often put on one of the boxes at the back. Every now and then, depending on the weather and time of the year – people who were in the palace would come out.

“The Queen would come by, nod and say good evening or something like that while you were saluting her.”

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In February 2006, McMenemy received an MBE from the Queen for services to football, as well as his charity work.

The Gateshead-born icon said: “When I was given the MBE, it could have been anybody in the Royal Family on duty. I was lucky that on my day it was the Queen.

“You stand about 10 yards away from the Queen with all your family in the crowded room behind you. You bow, walk towards her and are told to stand about a yard away from her.

“She pinned my medal onto my chest and said a few words. I was given the award because of sport and charity, she brought up about both of those things.

“I then said ‘you may remember ma’am, I was there the day you went to the FA Cup final!’.

“She said ‘really?’. She then smiled and said ‘oh yes’.

“I also said to her ‘of course, before that, I used to stand on guard outside your house!’. Of course, she was surprised by that and offered a nice smile.

“She had that aura but she was totally natural and made you feel normal. It wasn’t so bad for me because of the job I had in management.

“But when we were waiting to go in, some people couldn’t hold their cups of tea because of nerves!

“She was perfectly natural and seemed like she wanted to have a little chat – which she did for every single person.”

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Looking back on that famous day at Wembley, in which McMenemy’s Saints sealed a 1-0 victory over Tommy Docherty’s Manchester United, the manager introduced his players to Her Majesty ahead of kick-off.

“Because the Queen was there, we lined up again on the halfway line. The Royal Box was above the dugouts,” said McMenemy.

“The Queen came down and I walked along with her, introducing her to the Saints team. After the game the managers didn’t go up the steps in those days.

“Tommy Docherty obviously introduced her to his team. It was a special day.

"She was an amazing lady. God bless the Queen."

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