Monday 19 September 2022

Pomp and Circumstance...

.... and endless ceremonial,  or so it seems after eleven days of non stop media coverage. I have never watched so much daytime TV in all my life. And I'm not even a royalist. Neither royalist nor republican, just someone who is, in spite of herself, fascinated by the seamless perfection of the colourful spectacle, the matchless uniforms and splendid head dress of diverse Royal Armed Forces, some regiments, aristocratic Royal servants and court dignitary offices centuries old, with names to fit the archaic origins. 

It is coming up to three o'clock in the afternoon on Monday 19th and there is now only the actual committal service and interment to go. We are being told that this occasion will be far more modest and private than the huge service in Westminster Abbey, where the great and good of the world were in attendance, wonderful music was being sung and played and ladies displayed splendidly exotic black hats. Church dignitaries, equally resplendently dressed, preached and eulogised and praised, mourned and prayed and told us all to be as good and kind, noble and god-fearing as the late queen had been.

For these eleven days commentators have repeated themselves over and over again, rehearsing the same phrases, vying with each other to find something new to say, to dig up the most telling character trait of the queen; interviewees have repeated the same anecdotes, and queues to walk past the coffin during its time of lying-in-state have grown and grown. And the phrase "paying their respects" was used by all and sundry, from on high to down low. Some of the people  in the queues appeared to be full of excitement at being present on this momentous occasion, some no doubt projected their own grief at personal losses during the period of covid when they couldn't properly mourn their loved ones, and others were there to say they hd been there, the kind who would attend anything from the opening of an envelope to a state funeral.  

Last Thursday, after the Palace had told us that the queen was gravely ill, the first five hours until her death was confirmed, commentators were almost grotesque in filling the resultant void of news with guesswork. They couldn't start praising the monarch and neither could they give any definite information. So they waffled on and on, repeating each statement "for the benefit of those who have just joined us" time and time again. It was quite painful to watch. In the end I switched off and therefore missed the announcement. 

And from then on it was wall-to-wall overhead drone footage of the journeys the queen's coffin took from Balmoral, where she died, to the various stages on the way to Edinburgh. Then followed various stops in London, from Buckingham Palace to the Great Hall at Westminster, to Westminster Abbey, all of them accompanied by the same sombre tones of endless commentary. If there is anybody in this country who is still crying over her death, they show remarkable staying power. Apart from the family, of course, who have shown themselves in a very good light, united and dignified, in spite of what the tabloids say about some of the family's members, Camilla and Meghan provoking the most hate speech in media and press.

Heavens, when I started this post an hour ago the Windsor Palace bit had only just started; guess what? they are still marching to the same Beethoven Funeral Marches, a whole hour later! The TV is on in the background. The procession is now finally inside the walls of the castle where the public is no longer welcome. But TV is.

So, now the UK has a new King. I met him once at a Royal Garden Party when we were lucky to have been singled out for a brief conversation with the then Prince of Wales; this was a long time ago, in the days when Diana was still around and Camilla no more than a tear of regret in Charles' eye. My daughter and I rather monopolised the conversation with Prince Charles who had really been wanting to meet my Beloved in his capacity as a musician at the Royal Opera House. Charles was nice and friendly and approachable, but nothing compared to Diana, who was joking and laughing with the people she had been delegated to meet.

Finally, the service in St George's Chapel, Windsor has started. And so ends an era. What history has to say we will find out in due time.



14 comments:

  1. As an American I don't understand American fascination with the British royals. Me? Ho hum. OK, the queen died and Charles finally gets to be king. Don't really care.

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  2. I'm not watching but plenty of Americans are. She was a woman who did her country proud. My condolences to her family and her fans.

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  3. What interests me, this not being a novelty, saw other state funerals, this one just bigger and with better music, is whether more countries will decide now's the time to declare independence. Watershed moment.

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  4. Her sense of duty was immense. I am over the wall to wall coverage though.

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  5. Even though I do like pomp and circumstance it was a bit much today but it didn't stop me from watching. I really admired the Queen, who has been in my life since I can remember, and think she got a proper send off.

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  6. People forget she was a very good actor. That was her job. She couldn't show boredom or offer her own thoughts on anything political or be impatient or fart or smoke in public. But oh boy, they "know" her, therefore they grieve. Projection much? I am so over this 11 days of constant reiterations of her sainthood. She was a tool of the government and very well paid. And sits on all the tainted wealth extorted from the abused and slaughtered colonies by her forebears. Her funeral has fed the economy millions and millions of dollars and "her" people will have to balance their sterling for heat or food in the coming winter.
    XO
    WWW

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  7. I have spent more time watching screens these past 10 days than ever before. As a Canadian, I enjoy the attachment to the Royal Family, and found the late Queen a source of inspiration in the way she approached life with grace and humour. The ceremonial aspects of these days have been fascinating, and so full of history and meaning that I wish I knew more of. I've also been pondering the role of ceremony in our modern society that seems to decry such things. I'm still pondering.

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  8. How lovely that you had a brief chat with Prince Charles some years ago. What a beautiful thing to recall. As an American I honor and respect the Queen and now your King Charles III. I posted a bit about how I admire her on my blog recently. I like the pomp and circumstance with its historic roots and continuation to today.

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  9. Maybe if it had been a regular Monday for me, working from home, I would have watched at least a summary. But as it happens, I am on holiday this week and we were walking in beautiful woodland (Odenwald, for a change) all day. Admittedly, not once did any thought of the funeral cross my mind, even though I knew from my family in Yorkshire that they had the day off.
    End of an era, definitely.
    You know of course how popular the Queen was in Germany. She and her husband had many relatives here. I imagine that some of them were present yesterday.

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  10. Hi Friko - yes ... there was probably rather too much - but she was unique. Amazing transfer of reign ... I'm thinking it's all started rather well ... and if we're humble enough we should be able to have our place in the world - regardless of other countries deciding their own fate. It's all rather daunting ... thanks for this write-up ... I just decided I couldn't cope with it and kept things very simple. Take care and all the best - Hilary

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  11. I watched as much as I could, as often as I could, in all the days (sometimes we were baby sitting, sometimes with no BBC at the lake). She was an amazing woman and as someone said, a great actor. I cannot imagine having to do what she did, every day of her life. Small talk with people she would never see again, having to remember the right questions or things to say after being briefed, I am fascinated by the historic rituals, the pomp and circumstance, the ceremony of it all. And I think you may have a point about the grieving and the Covid. I just finished reading Jenny Woolf's remarkable post about the floral tributes in Green Park. I cannot imagine any leader in the US being so honored or so beloved. I think it's lovely you met Charles in the past. I hope he will be a good King -- he has his work cut out for him. I have to say, that entire family must be mentally and physically exhausted after all this. I know they probably have personal massage therapists on call, good food, easy transportation. But the mental toll that takes, being dressed in your black on a warm sunny day and shaking hands or walking in procession.... and you are grieving a beloved family member with a whole lot of uncertainty on the horizon for many of them. I don't think I could do it.

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  12. and your opinion about harry and meagan?!

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  13. Hail to the queen, it was quite a ceremony, You buried the lede: your big news of monopolizing Charles and DIANNA. I love your comment: A tear of regret in Charles' eye. You have such a way with words and I love reading your blog in the US.

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  14. I didn't watch any of the live coverage, although I did take time for some bits and pieces later. What left me bemused is that one of my earliest memories is of her coronation, which I watched on our first tv, and now I have the memory of her funeral, which I watched on my computer. Now, she's gone, and I'm still here, and the world has vastly changed. She did well to live as an unchanging icon in a continually changing world. I admired her, although as a person rather than a 'royal.'

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