It is hard not to be moved to some extent by current events, by which I am referring to the death of HM Queen Elizabeth II and the accession of HM Charles III, even if one part of that moves us towards sadness and the other towards despair. HM Queen Elizabeth II, proclaimed as perfect and faultless universally by UK commentators, had her faults. I am sure there were more, but one only needs to reflect on the payment of her son Andrews’s multi-million pound out of court settlement related to charges of a sexual nature in the US and then allowing him to walk her to her place at her husband’s memorial service. Ever vigilant about the image of the monarchy, she got the optics terribly wrong on at least two occasions near the end of her long life. Perhaps this is not the time, but the time will come when these are no longer glossed over. Nevertheless, from a monarchist perspective, there is undoubtedly a case for saying she did a pretty good job. Her successor has already so over-played his hand on eco matters for anyone to believe that he will remain politically neutral.
Of course, a great deal of pageantry accompanies any official event involving our head of state and that includes the Queen’s funeral. I’m a sucker for a military band and bit of presenting of arms. We do these things so well. But, with the wall to wall coverage of royal funereal events and the ability to watch live the lines of people paying their respects in Westminster Hall and even an elderly guard collapsing and crashing to the ground from the dais, have we not gone over the top? I thought it was just me but a committed monarchist and admirer of our late Queen with whom I had a pint this week told me he was sick to death of it.
Then there is the dreadful commentary, mostly from the Welsh Windbag Huw Edwards, as the processions take place. The commentaries consist of an endless stream of drivel delivered in hushed tones and consisting of such gems—as the cortège passed The Cenotaph—that ‘the dead were silently honouring her’. Dear me; if ever the dictum ‘if you’ve nothing to say, say nothing’ should have been applied. These utterances neither honour our late queen nor address the intelligence of the average listener, unless the BBC really has lulled people towards the view that it speaks for the nation.
It may only be ten days of official mourning and we are all free to mourn her in any way we want and for as long as we want. But we are not living in North Korea. It was not unexpected that there would be a bank holiday on the day of the funeral and it was nice of our multi-millionaire King (who made over 100 of his staff redundant during the mourning period) to declare a day when employers are under no obligation to pay their employees. This will be followed by another one for his Coronation. Nevertheless, I am sure that millions will want to witness both events and I may even sneak a look at these events myself.
However, the FA took it upon themselves to cancel football last weekend, while cricket proceeded. Then the Last Night of The Proms, something that of all things should have proceeded was cancelled and Center Parcs decided that anyone staying there would be evicted and, I believe, receive no refund on the day of the funeral (they since relented). Incidentally, my wife went to Center Parcs once and almost begged to be evicted. If people really believe our Queen was as stoical and matter of fact as everyone claims, surely such hollow gestures bordering on virtue signals are things of which she would have disapproved.
And our ever vigilant police force, whose cap badge displays the royal moniker have taken it upon themselves to arrest republican protesters. I think these protests are ill-timed and I am not a republican but, I reiterate, we do not live in North Korea. HM Queen Elizabeth II presided over a constitutional monarchy which operated by democracy. While the man or woman in the street may be remote from the wheels of power, he or she used to live safe in the knowledge that they were free to protest peacefully and free to express their opinion. Our new king would endear himself to me if he spoke out about that. But I doubt very much he will.
Lead Correspondent | David Clews is the Lead Correspondent for UNN, with over 20 years of political/campaigning experience and a wealth of social media and communication skills David gets to the heart of what is really important to the real people of the UK.
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