Anyone watch this via TV or being there and have any comments?
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Observations as to Queen Elizabeth II's funeral?
- Thread starter Mock Turtle
- Start date
exchemist
Veteran Member
Yes I watched parts of the funeral service. They did a good job, not surprisingly: they've had long enough to prepare. Striking how many different Christian denominations, and also other religions, were represented. This may be Charles putting his stamp on it as Defender of Faiths [plural], as he once put it. But at the same time it was also very much a take-no-prisoners Anglican service. I very much liked Welby’s put-down of those who cling to office (Bozo? Trump? Xi?). And the choice of Blaenwern was inspired, I thought, for the line in the last verse: "Till we cast our crowns before thee….” , not to mention it being one of the greatest Welsh hymn tunes. (By the way, I was struck by the way everybody sang. Not just the choir, but the whole congregation joined in the hymns. The English choral tradition is not yet dead.) The lone piper at the end, fading away, was very moving.
I gather the orb, sceptre and crown get left on the altar in St George’s chapel at the end of the proceedings, presumably to be taken from the altar at Westminster Abbey and given to Charles at his coronation. Nicely symbolic.
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
No. No more than I would do for any strangers funeral.
I share with empathy, pay some respect in terms of loss, but the queen is not not a close friend or a loved one of mine.
There were suggestions that Prince George and Princess Charlotte might walk behind the coffin, as William and Harry did at their mother's funeral, but common sense probably took over and they were at the funeral service but not on parade. I think that might have been a step too far for seven and 9-year-olds.
They regalia will be whisked away almost immediately, back to the safety of the Tower of London -- to be brought out again at Charles's coronation (probably next spring).
exchemist
Veteran Member
Yes of course. It's the symbolism that is interesting: the sceptre for temporal authority and the orb for divine authority, I think.
Both are now in abeyance until the King is crowned. The Lord Chamberlain, the head of the royal household, also broke his staff of office and put it on the coffin. So that's the end of his authority, too.
Quite dramatic. It reminded me slightly of the Good Friday service, when the altars are stripped at the end to symbolise the death of Christ and everything goes into hibernation, as it were.
Watching the 'committal' service brought the reality of the end of her reign.
With the Queen's piper's bagpipes fading away, the removal of the crown, sceptre, and orb, the breaking of the staff of office and the lowering of the coffin and singing 'God Save the King'. I understand that now the crown will have to be refitted for Charles. Both Africa and India want the jewels, worth billions, returned.
Callisto
Hellenismos, BTW
Better they present England with an overdue bill of purchase for the jewels and use the billions to help their populations who desperately need it, repossessing the stones just to collect dust in their own museums helps no one, may as well leave them with the UK.
In either case I don't imagine King Charles is going to give them up. It will be interesting to see if he is as frugal as his mother has a reputation for being.