The Queen’s funeral will express the essence of constituitonal monarchy, the combination of the personal and the political. And to these elements were added her own remarkable qualities of loyalty, stoicism and faithfulness. It is these personal qualities that has given the period of national mourning across the country such intensity and near-universality.
This was most vividly expressed in the extraordinary queues of people who have been patiently waiting for hours to pay their respect to the Queen during her lying-in-state.
The service is religious, in that it commits the Queen’s mortal soul to her maker, but it is also familial, political and ceremonial. There are the traditional rites for the funeral of a monarch in the resonant liturgy of the Church of England but there are also elements of the ceremony that are all her own. Her wish that the service should include members of the public — which will see NHS workers, for instance, participate in the procession — is characteristic of a monarch who was sensitive to how society changed during her reign.
The pomp of the event conveys the dignity of the Queen’s role — indeed, it is precisely the role of ceremony to be an expression of an underlying reality. But it is also an occasion of mourning for her family. We will see that moving combination of the ritual with the personal in the so-called Princes’ Vigil, a chance for the Queen’s children to keep watch by her coffin in Westminster Hall.
A time of unity
All parts of the country have shared in expressions of mourning for the Queen but the funeral is, pre-eminently, a London event. The capital, the focus of all the great events that took place in the Queen’s life, including her birth and her coronation, will come to a standstill. Many of the streets are being closed off; the business of the capital is largely put on hold.
The progress of the coffin through the city, which is bringing unprecedented numbers into its heart, is a moving public event, which allows London to say goodbye to a monarch who was present in good times and bad; in the Blitz as well as during successive Jubilee celebrations. In a tradition which began with Queen Victoria, 98 young Royal Navy sailors pull the gun carriage with the coffin from Westminster Abbey to Wellington arch: she was there for all the armed services.
The funeral of the Queen will also be an extraordinary occasion for the coming together of world leaders: crowned heads from all over Europe, heads of state such as US President Biden, and the presidents of France, Germany and Italy.
It will be a fitting legacy for the Queen if her diplomatic work is continued at her death by an increase of goodwill among these world leaders who have been brought together for the funeral.
This is an historic occasion. The Queen’s life spanned nearly a century: she was the one element of continuity in a time of great social and political change. She bequeathed an example of fortitude, kindness and fidelity to the country, and we should continue to cherish those qualities. The solemnity of the period of mourning for the Queen will pass, but she will not be forgotten.
The funeral, and the events that precede it, have brought the country together; that is surely a great thing. May she rest in peace.
