QUEEN’S FUNERAL: A day of ceremonial splendour

And how the world has grieved since the beloved monarch passed away on September 8, aged 96.

The culmination of the 10-day mourning period, the state funeral with all its pageantry and arcane rituals, was watched by billions of people around the world, gathering in town squares or parks, or at home with their loved ones, as Her Majesty completed her final journey.

It is understood the Queen had overseen every detail of the funeral herself, in a continuously reviewed plan code-named Operation London Bridge (also known by its code phrase ‘London Bridge is down’), since at least the 1960s.

The solemnity of tradition prevailed at Westminster Abbey and throughout the day; the gun carriage bearing the coffin pulled by Royal Navy sailors, the pipers, the vast panoply of uniforms, gleaming helmets and accoutrements, bearskins and plumes, the mesmerising precision of pomp and ceremony, the like of which many of us will never see again in our lifetime.

But we were outsiders looking in on the historic spectacle. What thoughts must have been going through the mind of King Charles III, his siblings and other members of the Royal Family during the ceremonial splendour of Queen Elizabeth’s funeral?

Watching on television, their faces were inscrutable, emotions kept in check; instead of tears, there was steely resolve and rigid control of feelings. Heads were bowed, eyes were lowered, even Prince George and Princess Charlotte, whose hilarious mischievous behaviour is well documented, behaved with absolute decorum, no gentle chiding required from their parents.

During her very long reign, death has visited the late monarch’s family in many forms, through world wars, old age, air and car crashes, aneurisms or an IRA assassination.

We never saw her sobbing or wailing, there were no dramatics only valour, and such was the case of her own family at her funeral.

One did, however, get a momentary glimpse of King Charles’ grief during the rousing rendition of ‘God Save the King’ at the end of the Westminster service.

As Camilla, Queen Consort, and others sang the words of the anthem, the new monarch looked riven. It was a very poignant, lump-in-the-throat moment for those watching, as was the singing of ‘God Save the King’ later in the day at St George’s Chapel, as the new King bit his lip and took a deep breath, perhaps contemplating the gravity of his new role.

Funerals, even state ones, remind us of our own mortality and people in our own lives we have lost. It makes raw all sorts of painful memories and reignites grief.

Prince William said that walking behind Queen Elizabeth’s coffin last Wednesday reminded him of his mother Princess Diana’s funeral 25 years ago.

He added that walking behind his grandmother’s coffin during the procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall was “very difficult”.

He also spoke to another woman and said, “Don’t cry now, you’ll start me,” according to a reporter who attended the engagement.

On the occasion of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977, the poet Philip Larkin wrote of her reign: “In times when nothing stood, but worsened or grew strange, there was one constant good, she did not change.”

Regardless of one’s feelings for the monarchy, the Queen’s sheer presence was one of reassurance, most recently during the pandemic when she comforted us that we would meet again.

She was the background of our lives, outliving so many, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents. She didn’t just reign over us, she lived beside us, through good times and bad.

The service at St George’s Chapel spoke of the Queen’s ‘uncomplicated and profund’ Christian faith, her one constant was God. It was evident before she became Queen that Elizabeth felt a sense of calling, even a vocation, in the statement she made to mark her 21st birthday in 1947.

She pledged her entire life, whether it be long or short, to the service of the people, and she finished her promise with a prayer: “God help me to make good my vow.”

The Queen, as we all know, was a huge animal lover, so it was very moving to see her corgis – Muick and Sandy – waiting at Windsor Castle as the procession pulled inside the grounds. And those with an eagle-eye will also have noticed Princess Charlotte’s horseshoe brooch, a tribute to her ‘Gan-Gan’s’ love of horses.

The late Queen taught us grief is natural, it is our way to remember and honour the lost. To show our love. But she taught us too that we must move on.

Now as she is laid to eternal rest we will turn our attention to the new King – who despite his own grief has pledged to serve us.