Clueless partygoer interviewed by BBC outside Buckingham Palace

The world paid heartfelt tributes to the Queen after it was announced on Thursday (September 8) that she had died aged 96.

Members of the public gathered at Buckingham Palace to mark the Queen's passing, as nature offered a poignant sight in the form of a double rainbow.

People continued to head over to the Palace in the early hours of the morning, including one passerby who had no idea what was going on – at 2am the following day.

In an awkward interview with BBC's news correspondent Kasia Madera, the man said he was drawn to the Palace after seeing a BBC broadcast after work night out.

When asked why he was there in the middle of the night, he explained: "I turned on the TV, and I saw you,

"And I thought, 'hang on a minute, something's happening here,' so I came down to see this and be a part of it."

An unamused Madera responded: "I'm sure I'm not the reason why you came here."

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

The man quipped: "Well, literally not you. This event."

"Five minute walk, and here we are," he added, before speaking about the diversity at the Palace, which he called "good and interesting and beautiful."

Viewers were left in a state of confusion, with one saying: "He's being interviewed and still don’t know what’s happening."

Another added: "Does he know why he’s there?"

A third person commented: "9am meeting with HR".

Prime minister Liz Truss, who was appointed on Tuesday, said Elizabeth II "was the rock on which modern Britain was built," before adding: "She was the very spirit of Great Britain – and that spirit will endure."

Meanwhile, former PM Boris Johnson revealed he was "moved to tears" during an interview with the BBC a few months back.

"We sat down and the cameras started rolling. And they requested that I should talk about her in the past tense," he said.

"And I'm afraid I simply choked up and I couldn't go on. I'm really not easily moved to tears, but I was so overcome with sadness, that I had to ask them to go away."

Keir Starmer, Volodymyr Zelensky, Justin Trudeau and Piers Morgan also paid their respects online.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.