The Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II

Today we watched the funeral of Queen Elizabeth the second. 

It was a brilliantly choreographed and performed piece of high ceremony, replete with soldiers, sailors, and countless other uniformed staff and dignitaries. 

To begin with I found it funny and rather ridiculous, like some Gilbert and Sullivan rubbish produced with a billion pound budget. But gradually, as the ceremony, or rather ceremonies progressed, I found myself immersed, and eventually quite emotional.

I never met the Queen, and was only ever in the same room as her once. It was the ballroom at Buckingham Palace in 1997, and my father was receiving the OBE for services to agriculture. The Queen was a small lady, conventionally but immaculately dressed. She asked my father a question, listened politely to his answer, and shook his hand. Prior to the ceremony, he'd been briefed that she had a firm handshake - he confirmed that she had.

I'm no ardent Royalist, but believe in the madness of a constitutional monarchy. People, often very ordinary people, seem to love it. I like the way it absolves our politicians of having to pretend to be acting in the interests of the whole country - in our system they never do. I've also been lucky enough to live in two republics, France and the USA. In both, the citizens didn't seem to be any happier or freer than in the United Kingdom. 

Andrew Sullivan has written a brilliant article on Queen Elizabeth II and constitutional monarchies. I urge you to find it and read it yourselves, but here's an extract:

You can make all sorts of solid arguments against a constitutional monarchy — but the point of monarchy is precisely that it is not the fruit of an argument. It is emphatically not an Enlightenment institution. It’s a primordial institution smuggled into a democratic system. It has nothing to do with merit and logic and everything to do with authority and mystery — two deeply human needs our modern world has trouble satisfying without danger.

The Crown satisfies those needs, which keeps other more malign alternatives at bay. No one has expressed this better than C.S. Lewis:

Where men are forbidden to honour a king, they honour millionaires, athletes, or film stars instead; even famous prostitutes or gangsters. For spiritual nature, like bodily nature, will be served; deny it food and it will gobble poison.

The Crown represents something from the ancient past, a logically indefensible but emotionally salient symbol of something called a nation, something that gives its members meaning and happiness. However shitty the economy, or awful the prime minister, or ugly the discourse, the monarch is able to represent the nation all the time. In a living, breathing, mortal person.

The period of mourning for Elizabeth II lasted 10 days, and with the funeral today comes to an end. It's been a strange slightly disorientating time. There have been ceremonies in Edinburgh, and a prolonged lying in state in the medievally atmospheric Westminster Hall. An estimated 300,000 people queued up to pay their respects. The BBC had a 24 hour live feed going the whole time, and it was weirdly compelling viewing. 

I'd hoped the funeral today would bring a sense of closure, but instead I feel sad and still slightly disorientated. Hearing "God Save the King!" and a national anthem that now starts with "God save our gracious King, long live our noble King..." feels very strange. Likewise seeing "E II R" emblazoned on the outfits of trumpeters and other royal functionaries, probably for the last time. I wonder when a brown envelope will arrive through the door that says "On his majesty's service" and when I shall see my first post box with "G III R" on it?