Elizabeth R

The queen’s funeral is done and dusted.

A very old rich lady who loved horses and her dogs died, but I must admit it was a bit of a shocker.

Always present in the background, perhaps collectively people thought she would always be there.

After the last ten days of tedious media coverage I for one am glad that this weird enforced period of mourning is over,

There’s no doubt she did a sterling job of supporting the idea of empire, colonialism and commonwealth, but on a personal level, I don’t hold that against her. She wore sparkly things extremely well and had a fine collection of head scarves as well as crowns.. She’s amongst the last of that very hardy generation who lived through the Second World War, she was a woman with a great work ethic and I’m sure her family will miss her sorely.

I can’t say that I will, I don’t understand members of the public who partake in an outpouring of grief for a woman they never knew. Perhaps for them she was also a symbol of motherhood and grandmotherhood and they project their personal griefs and losses upon her.

The news media would have us believe that her death heralds a huge change for us all, but I doubt her death will drive any change that will effect the general public.

Cornflake is not happy that in his world, Queen’s Council, will now be called King’s Council, no longer QC’s but KC’s, and who can say that without adding, and the Sunshine Band? No one over fifty, that’s for sure.

Back in the days when a change of monarch was driven by devious and underhand political machinations, violent acts, invasions, and/or out right war, a huge change might have been the case. An old woman dying at home, with an heir standing by? Not so much.

I wonder if he ever contemplates that the name Charles isn’t always a lucky one for a king.

Due to all the historical instances of royal skulduggery, should we really all be asking, who was this person? Who is her charmless son to continue this peculiar outdated tradition?

The argument that we need the royal family to attract tourist money to London, doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Legoland apparently brings in more cash. It’s been suggested that perhaps a Lego person could be head of state. I’d vote for that, they did a great Batman movie.

I admit to being a strange combination of anti monarchy and pro pageantry. As a country we do pomp so well. Funerals especially. Did you know that organising royal funerals is an inherited job? Madness.

GorJus came over for breakfast to watch the show, but from ten am, not six thirty am when the tv coverage started. I did switch it on at nine, but there’s only so much chat from people who met the queen once that I can take.

I watched The Witcher instead until the real action started.

When the time came the funeral did not disappoint. Fabulous drums, glorious bagpipes, a crown on the coffin! Pink flowers that clashed with the red and yellow royal standard! At chez tart we were feeling 1970’s Yves St Laurent, and style wise that is never a bad thing. Cornflake’s greatest concern was that the crown might fall off its purple cushion. This added a welcome element of suspense.

To date I’ve seen a few great state funerals on tv, some excellent weddings, and soon I expect, my first coronation. Due to my conflict surrounding love of tradition, pageantry and my anti royalty stance, while I enjoy the spectacle, I’ll be muttering, Vive la Republique I dare say.

I went to a requiem mass for the queen, I figured it was my last opportunity to do so, although I might be able to fit in one for a king of course. As I’ve mentioned before, I love choral music. This time I was a double imposter, I don’t believe in god or monarchy. The choral music/people talking shite proportional mix was not in my favour and I felt uncomfortable. Shockingly I was among the younger portion of the audience, in a gender minority and aware that there were only three people of colour present. A sea of bald or grey haired white men in black suits singing the national anthem with great fervour unsettled me slightly.

There were drinks and nibbles served after the service, I didn’t stay.

A woman was recently aggressively arrested for holding a cardboard sign saying, Not my king. During these last ten days it has been unwise to express such sentiments, but in my opinion this attitude to freedom of speech, as I imagine you can tell, cannot continue.

After a drink I might have repeated my favourite quotes referring to the queen’s demise and I may well have found myself in The Tower.

The day after her majesty’s death on the internet…

‘…I think the queen would like us all to live the way she did, with free public housing, a basic universal income and full government health care.’

‘….Fair play to the CWU for calling off today’s strike because the queen is dead……I hadn’t realised it was one of their demands.’