Momentous

So Queen Elizabeth is dead. We sat on Thursday watching the news unfold - actually for hours it was the non-news, though it was fairly obvious that the BBC knew that she was on the point of death. 

And then it was announced that she had died, and a fortuitous rainbow appeared over (I think it is) Windsor Castle. But of course, she died in Scotland - where she was the only Elizabeth, not Elizabeth II, (though the BBC appears to be unaware of this).

The next day we watched the 96-gun salutes all over the country and Commonwealth. This was Belfast. 

And this was Jersey - love the uniforms. So twenty-first century... .

And then today we drove home from Daughter 1's as the crowds assembled for the funeral cortege coming later from Balmoral to Edinburgh for tomorrow's lying in state in St Giles.  

It was interesting seeing the familiar streets not far from us, from the air, 

and the crowds lining the roads and clapping. Lots of people taking photos. I wonder if they were there mainly to show respect for the Queen or mainly to say they were there on this historic occasion - both, I'd think, but which more? 

My school history teacher lived in this house.

And here's Edinburgh's New Town. 

Here's the Old Town, the Royal Mile which runs between the Castle and Holyrood Palace. 

And this is the Palace, with the hearse arriving, the coffin draped tactfully in a Scottish flag. 

I was amazed to find out that Anna in Indiana had been watching it too! 

There's no doubt that the Queen's death has stirred emotion in so many of us, me included. I'm no passionate royalist, but it's impossible (I'd think) not to admire the Queen, thrust into this position and fulfilling her role until two days before her death, when she received Liz Truss smiling and standing up. Amazing. I don't think she was an intellectual, but she was sensible and dutiful. 

And it brings other things to the surface too. At our age, we can remember her when she was quite young. We can remember our parents when they were quite young. And now none of them is here any more. Of course, that's what happens; and that's what will happen to us and to everyone. Normally I don't dwell on it much, but the past few days, with their enormous media coverage, have somewhat thrust thoughts of mortality to the forefront of our minds. 

Poor old King Charles III. If he'd succeeded to the throne, say, 25 years ago, he could have made his mark on history already and be beginning, now, to ease off a bit and allow William to take the strain. Instead, at nearly 74, he has to start the job and do something memorable in his (who knows how many?) years in the job. Who would envy him? 

It's a very strange system and I'm glad to be a commoner. Here's a little garden posy - one of life's simple pleasures.