Unity will ease monarch’s grief

WHEN the clock strikes three and the nation is called upon to fall silent, the Queen should look back with pride at a job well done.

Long-held funeral plans torn apart by the Covid crisis, tough decisions on who should attend and the pressure of by-the-minute details will all be over.

No doubt she will be wondering what the new dawn that has been thrust upon her will look like. But one hopes, bolstered by the unity her family has shown in recent days, the burden will be eased.

Controversies within her family will still rage, just as they have always done, but the central force must be towards togetherness to herald the start of a new era without their beloved patriarch.

The senior members of The Firm have a duty to the Queen to not only help her through, but to heed her call to heal the nation after more than a year of turmoil.

When the eyes of the world are upon us, for the marking of births and marriages in the Royal Family, there is cause for celebration.

Today, we should all pause to honour a man who devoted his life to service

– and the woman who must say her final goodbye.

The Firm has a duty to help the Queen heal the nation