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Watching the Funeral
I'm not a Monarchist, but the Funeral still got to me.
I ended up watching most of it (and would have seen even more if I hadn't had visitors for part of the morning). I may even watch it again - it's a form of 'slow TV'. It's both oddly relaxing and deeply involving. The silent crowds along the streets are as much a part of the event as the people in the long procession.
I think the Monarchy (when it works well, as it did under Elizabeth II) is one of the things that gives us a strong sense of identity as a nation. When we lost her, we lost a small part of ourselves.
It isn't so much that monarchy is a wonderful thing - when it goes wrong, it can go terribly wrong - but when it works, it can give a sense of history and continuity that binds us together.
I guess we can thank Prince Albert for that. Under VIctoria and Albert, the monarchy started that shift from "What the people can do for me" to "What can the monarch do for the people". (I'm going to ignore the massive personal wealth of the monarch here, but a fair bit of the crown income does go to the state)
Elizabeth II had a deep sense of duty and represented Britain all over the world. Her long time on the throne meant that she had enormous personal knowledge of people and politics.
That deep sense of duty earned her respect from many people, and it meant that we could invest part of our sense of national identity in the Monarchy. I trust King Charles III to carry on that duty (Wouldn't trust some other members of the Royal Family, but fortunately they aren't the ones inheriting the throne)
The pageantry and spectacle that surrounds major royal events allows us to become part of these events, but there is no compulsion. You can celebrate Royal weddings and funerals, or you can ignore them totally. Some, I choose to ignore, but the Funeral felt different. Elizabeth II came to the throne before I was born, and I'm in my 60s now. I suspect that my middle name of Elizabeth was probably at least chosen in part in acknowledgement of the Queen.
I felt part of the watching crowds. It felt right that no one was waving flags - that will come with the Coronation. It's not about nationalism, it's about being a Nation. (I'm not sure if that will make any sense to a non-Brit.)
I'm still not really a Monarchist, but I came closer to being one - and yes, I will celebrate the Coronation when it comes.
Because King Charles will represent us as a people, and I believe he will do this well, and with a deep sense of duty, as his mother did.
And because will all the problems that we face (energy prices, food prices, Liz Truss as Prime Minster, etc), I look around the World and know that I'm damn lucky to live where I do.
We don't have perfection - but no country does. But we have a heck of a lot more than many others do.
I look at Ukraine (because I have a lot of conversations with Ukrainians these days) and their history is so different to ours. Because they have had relatively few periods of independence as a country, one of he first things the Russians do when they take over a region is to try and obliterate the history and replace school curriculums with a Russian focused history.. Ukraine doesn't really have an equivalent of our Monarchy. They've had problems with many of their presidents in recent times. There are few figures who can serve as a focus. Shaking off the legacy of Russian-style politics is hard.
Tavas Shevchenko was a Ukrainian poet - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taras_Shevchenko - and this quote from a town recently liberated by the Ukrainian army I find rather telling.
Andrii Konashavych, pointed to the chair where the pseudo-mayor had sat in the council building. On the wall was a portrait of Taras Shevchenko, Ukraine’s national poet who gives his name to the town. What happened to the Putin photo? “We tore it up,” Konashavych said. Why was there no picture of President Zelenskiy? “Presidents come and go. Shevchenko is eternal,” he replied.
I guess that's what the Monarch is to us. Prime Minsters come and go, but barring a few minor hiccups, the Monarchy has been with us since 1066.
So, if you haven't already watched the funeral, sit down for a while with a cup of tea and imagine living in a country that is far from perfect, but at least has no ongoing war, has more stability than most of the world, and has a head of state that most of us actually trust (even when we aren't monarchists).
Goodbye Elizabeth. You did your job, and you did it well.
God Save the King. (Who is going to be over-worked and probably stressed to the eyeballs for the rest of his life)
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