Queen’s Platinum Jubilee: Alan Shearer recalls how Newcastle United fans almost took over meet with Her Majesty
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It's all eyes on the Queen this weekend as the nation celebrates the Platinum Jubilee, and one Newcastle United star who has crossed paths with Her Majesty is Alan Shearer.
The former Magpies striker is now flying high in the punditry world and is often a representative of not only Newcastle United, but the sport as a whole.
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Hide AdShearer met the Queen back in 2011 in a meeting that he still chuckles about now, thanks to the attendance of Newcastle fans in the crowd.
Talking on Fever Pitch: The Rise of the Premier League late last year, the Geordie star said he feared that fans would make him the star of the show instead of Her Majesty.
He said: “I could hear little shouts of my name and I thought ‘Oh no, please don’t’.
“It’s great when you say it but not when the Queen’s here.
“There was quite a bit of it, and of course, it was the Queen’s event, not mine, I was just a hanger-on.”
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Hide AdThat was just one of Shearer's worries on the day, the former footballer nervous to be spending time with royalty.
The two walked together at Alnwick Castle as Queen Elizabeth visited the region.
When he woke up in the morning and looked outside his window, Shearer realised the Queen would be getting an authentic experience of North East weather.
He said: "I woke up in the morning and pulled the curtains back and thought, ‘Oh no, it's pouring with rain’.
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Hide Ad“With it being slightly damp underfoot, and also there were a few steps that we had to go up and go down, I'm thinking to myself, ‘please whatever happens, do not trip up a step today.’
“And I’m thinking, ‘What if she actually trips up, what do I do then?’
“Do I go and catch her?”
“I was told that I would be walking side-by-side with her, I would be carrying her umbrella.
“I got a little bit of stick from my friends and my wife.
“I got home that evening and my wife had seen the pictures on TV and she said to me, ‘if we went out for a walk there’s no way you’d carry my umbrella’.
“I said, ‘well, you’re not exactly the Queen’.”
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