@CuddleDuncan ... Will you go pay your respects? Stand in line and go see The Queen?
@TNNative I want to. If it was a shorter wait I definitely would, but I'm not sure I'm really well enough for this. Even if I managed it it would knock me out for days.
As I write the queue is closed, having reached its maximum length of ... 9 miles I think it was.
Just to be clear, nobody in their right mind would do it. You don't even see the coffin, it's just a flag draped over an unseen box. There could be anything under there.
Nonetheless, the livestream of the people paying their respects in Westminster Hall is proving surprisingly popular. It's strangely fascinating.
@CuddleDuncan I love all your stories. I’m still in shock, myself. Somehow, it seemed she would defy death and go on living forever. The majority of those alive have known no other British monarch. What an odd thing to be saying now, “King Charles.” Also, thank you for setting the record straight that all the hate being launched toward Queen Elizabeth II, specifically calling her a colonizer and such, is utterly unfounded. I can hardly believe some of the outright hateful and disrespectful things people have said about her passing. From what I have seen in my lifetime, her dedication to service and integrity and zero scandal in 70 years was the real deal. It’s unfortunate her sons did not follow suit.
While I am American, I have followed the royal family fairly extensively the whole of my life. My eldest sister even more so than me, and both of us with a special kinship to Princess Diana (and I have also had a crush on Prince Harry as long as I can remember. 😅 Too bad he didn’t meet and marry me. I would have been more than happy for a life of public service to the Commonwealth and understood what I was getting myself into, and all of that present drama would have been avoided. 😏)
I found it particularly sad and ironic that Queen Elizabeth II passed the same week Princess Diana’s funeral was held exactly 25 years apart. And the Queen’s passing happening the same year I went to Paris and visited the Alma tunnel and the memorial there for Princess Diana.
Through my mother, we are descendants of Alfred the Great and his family line. I feel a great kinship to his daughter, Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians. I imagine that’s where much of this affinity for the royal family began. We are distantly related. 😁
@CuddleDuncan … lol “don’t even get to see the casket, just a flag draped box … could be anything under there” …. You are right, and that idea had not even crossed my mind, but it would be safer. And it is strangely fascinating. While the coverage has somewhat consumed my news, I haven’t seemed to mind.
imagine thinking one can ever say anything unpolitical about a monarch.
@TNNative I'm pretty confident it is her remains under there. But if, at the high point of the funeral, she was to jump out of it alive and well and shout "surprise!" it would be the greatest prank of all time.
@TheMidnightOwl it is indeed very strange that in the moment of somebody's death, there is a class of person who attacks them for things they didn't do. Surely that is a moment to consider the things that they did.
I do see that Prince Harry is very crushable, and I have no doubt that you would have made an excellent princess! If it's any consolation (it isn't) when the King made a speech on television a few days ago one of the memorable lines was (roughly), "I would also like to express my love for Harry and Meghan, as they make their new life abroad."
It's been interesting comparing the reaction of the country to the Queen's death compared to Diana's. We were in total shock with Diana, and the mood in London was very strange between the accident and the funeral. We don't have that this time. Although it was very sudden, it wasn't really a surprise. Since Philip went it's only been a question of time.
Edit: the queue has reopened. "Expected queuing time is at least 22 hours. Overnight temperatures will be cold."