‘Passing of the Queen has acted as force for harmony’
AMID OUR sorrow, there is pride. Since the death of the late Queen, the period of mourning has become one of the most remarkable chapters in our island story.the nation’s determination to honour Her Majesty for the greatness of her long reign resulted in an inspirational narrative of spectacle and sacrament, accompanied by astonishing crowds of people who want to pay their respects. That feeling was captured by one mourner who said of the Queen, “She was the best, and she brought out the best in us.”
The juxtaposition of splendid pageantry and public homage is at its most striking in the scenes at Westminster Hall, where the Queen has been lying-in-state since Wednesday. She had been brought there from Buckingham Palace in another unforgettable, solemn procession, led by the King’s Troop of the Royal Horse Artillery pulling the gun carriage that carried her coffin, followed by members of her family.
Until the State Funeral tomorrow morning, her coffin will rest on the catafalque in the centre of this ancient space, the largest medieval hall in Europe, whose very walls and vast timber ceiling resonate with history.
Other elements add to the grandeur of the setting, including the magnificence of the coffin, draped with the Royal Standard and mounted with golden Orb and Sceptre, as well as the glittering Imperial State Crown, containing more than 3,000 gems.
Equally impressive are the soldiers who guard the coffin, standing as motionless as statues, all of them resplendent in their venerable ceremonial uniforms.
Swords, pikes, breastplates and helmets glint in the light of the candles that surround the coffin.
The atmosphere of stillness is enhanced by the near silence, only broken by the muffled footsteps of the stream of awestruck well-wishers or the metallic tap of a rod against the stone floor by an officer to signal a change in the guard at the bier.
In its glorious poignancy, the lying-instate has already left much of the public overwhelmed with emotion. But a new dimension of gravity was reached last night when a unique ritual was enacted that displayed the profound sense of loss within the Royal Family.
This took the form of a vigil mounted at the catafalque by all eight of the Queen’s grandchildren, led by the Prince of Wales at one end of the coffin and Prince Harry at the other, both of them in uniform and flanked by their six cousins.
With their heads bowed, their faces reflective and their bodies stationary, it was an extraordinary sight.
In their desire to behave impeccably, the pain of the grandchildren was palpable.
Here was a family united in sadness, experiencing their grief in the public gaze. The episode was a potent illustration of how the Royals, for all their privileges, are also the servants of the people
The grandchildren’s vigil was the first rite of its kind in the saga of the British monarchy, but it echoed two similar events this week held by the Queen’s four children, King Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and the Earl ofwessex.
At St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh on Monday evening, the quartet mounted a vigil on the Queen’s last night in Scotland, as they did again in Westminster Hall on Friday night, episodes that were just as moving as the grandchildren’s watch.
The tradition of the “Vigil of the Princes”, as it used to be known, was started in 1936 for the late George V, when the new King Edward VIII instructed his three brothers, the Dukes of York, Kent and Gloucester, to join him by the coffin at Westminster Hall late in the night before their father’s funeral.
Apart from the all-male presence then, the other differences between 1936 and now were that none of the public were present, the Hall having been closed, and no photos were taken. The display of togetherness between William and Harry at last
‘A family united in sadness’
night’s vigil illustrates how the passing of the Queen has acted as a force for harmony.
After all the friction of recent years, fuelled by the Sussexes’ hostile, often incendiary, running commentary about the Royal Family, the two Princes have put their differences aside for the sake of their grandmother’s memory.
Indeed, the vigil was part of a pattern of solidarity between the brothers in recent days, starting with the surprise walkabout by the pair, with their wives Catherine and Meghan at Windsor Castle a week ago, and followed up by the private service at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday, and procession towestminster Hall onwednesday.
Tomorrow’s State Funeral, the biggest such event in British history, will be another occasion when they will mourn alongside each other. Whether this is just a temporary truce or the start of a lasting settlement remains to be seen. By all accounts, the
Prince ofwales is the one who has stretched out the olive branch to his younger brother.
It is up to Harry and Meghan to respond with a generosity of spirit that could signal a new beginning. But to achieve that, they would have to take a couple of vital steps.
First, they would have to acknowledge the hurt they have caused with their lurid public attacks on their relatives, especially through their notorious interview in 2021 with Oprahwinfrey.
Second, they should stop exploiting their Royal status for commercial gain.
If they want to rebuild relationships, they have to respect the privacy of others.
Harry should drop the publication of his autobiography, which is bound to cause more discord. Initially coming out this autumn, it has been postponed to next year.
The whole project should be abandoned. As a Royal insider says about the impact on William and Kate: “It’s hard to spend time with someone or even speak openly when you know they’re writing a book about you and giving interviews.the trust is gone.”
Harry and Meghan have to win back that trust. They should take a lesson from their late grandmother. Not only was she tremendously discreet, never having given a single interview in her entire reign, but also she was a deep believer in reconciliation.
That was graphically demonstrated by her involvement in the Northern Ireland peace process, which she helped to cement by her state visit to Ireland in 2011 and her famous handshake with the Republican commander Martin Mcguinness, despite the IRA’S assassination of her beloved cousin Lord Mountbatten.
The Queen went the extra mile for peace in the British Isles. After the uplifting national experience of unity over recent days, Harry and Meghan should do the same now in their own family.