19th September 2022 - Queen Elizabeth II's Funeral
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today is a bank holiday so I was free from work. Sadly it was due to
the Queen's funeral. So of course, I felt obliged to watch as I did
some Scout digital stuff. As ever with these things, there is a lot of
nonsense. Listening to the commentators on TV was annoying. They
always are. A big part of the funeral was the procession. The first
procession took the coffin from Westminister Hall to Westminister
Abbey. She was placed on a gun carriage which was pulled by some 100
or so sailors. Members of the various royal guards at the side. This
was a relatively short one. In the abbey, a relatively straight
forward religeous ceremony was held. I did not pay much attention but
did chuckle when Justin Welby, Arch-bishop of Canterbury (highest role
in Church of England other than King/Queen) said that those who have
power thrust upon them will be remembered long after those who cling
to power at all cost. Hmmm I wonder who he could be referring to.
Boris may have squirmed a little and hopefully Truss was paying
attention. After the service, the second procession took place. This
was much much longer. Led by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, they
marched from Westminister Abbey to Wellington Arch in Hyde Park. This
is pretty damn far and took a good while. The procession stretched for
a mile. That is just the people walking/marching. Once again, the
Royal Navy pulled the gun carriage with the coffin on. Though this
time, the Queen's family followed by foot. Interestingly, the wives
and children went by car. The horses involved in the parade did not
look happy. It made sense when you heard the gun salutes going off and
Big Ben going dong every minute. It was a very well done affair and I
am mightily impressed with the poor sailors, soldiers, airmen et al
who were lumbered with this dubious honour. They will have had to
learn some very complex drill with opportunity to only practise at
midnight. This is the sort of thing which is once in a career. The
last state funeral was for Winston Churchill in the early 60s. There
was a sort of practise with the Queen Mother's funeral but that was 20
years ago. They were at the scene from 8am at the latest and were
still going past 2pm. Amazingly no one fainted. Thankfully the weather
was kind to them too. I hope they manage to get plenty of leave to
make up for the hard work.
Anyhow, more funeral stuff to go. The coffin is on the way to Windsor
for another long walk. Procession number 3 will go up the Long Walk to
the castle and through St George's Chapel. The Long Walk is a good 3
mile/5 km so it is well named. Then finally we can go back to normal
outside of the mourning period.
The mourning period has certainly been odd. People are surprising. I
am surprised at the numbers of people who went to see the laying in
state. The queue was stupidly long with people waiting for days in
that queue. Absolutely absurd. The careful changing of TV schedules
has been interesting too. Lots of quiet programmes appeared. The radio
has been rather dull compared to normal as well.
Monarchy is a confusing thing. It is inherently pointless until you
see how entrenched it is within the UK. It gives a reason for ceremony
as well as some pomp and circumstance. These are deep rooted and
sometimes prove how all of these institutions are mad. One example is
Black Rod, as a representative of the crown, having the door of the
House of Commons slammed in their face. This happens each year at the
state opening and represents the independence of parliament from the
crown. They still went to the house of lords to hear the Queen's
Speech so it is a drama over nothing. These silly things do show how
riduculous all institutions are. Without them, I think it is very easy
for government to think itself high and mighty. Yet, why do I pay
taxes for a family to live in a variety of castles with the utmost
protection. Why them and not others? Well, who else would we get to
open hospitals or public buildings? I am yet to see someone gushing
over meeting their local MP or the prime minister but I have seen
plenty gush about meeting royalty. They are a bit of magic to civil
life in the UK. Both ridiculous and sort of required at the same time.
