Hours earlier than Buckingham Palace introduced the dying of Queen Elizabeth, my accomplice and I have been revisiting a chunk of journalism printed by the Guardian in 2017 that outlines in nice element the key plan of precisely what is going to occur after the Queen dies.
“Essentially the most elaborate plans are for what occurs if she passes away at Balmoral, the place she spends three months of the yr,” it learn, referring to the Queen’s property in Scotland. After her physique lies in state in Edinburgh, the Guardian reported, “the coffin can be … placed on board the Royal Practice at Waverley station for a tragic progress down the east coast mainline.” Authorities anticipated a wave of nationwide mourning within the UK. “Crowds are anticipated at degree crossings and on station platforms the size of the nation … to throw flowers on the passing practice.”
Neither considered one of us is basically certain precisely what it was about this final picture — 1000’s ready at practice stations throughout the UK to throw flowers at a passing practice — however we have been each briefly overcome with tears. The tears didn’t return once more till a BBC announcer emotionally reported that the Queen had died at Balmoral in Scotland. Instantly, I imagined crowds of individuals dropping what they have been doing — work? college? — to make their method to their native station and await their alternative to provide their very own bouquets.
I’m not a monarchist. I grew up in Sudan, a former British colony that gained independence in 1956, 4 years into Elizabeth’s reign. The British have been, for a lot of my childhood, the chief villains in Sudan’s historical past. I now reside in Canada, the place the Queen was our head of state; her image hangs in faculties and in authorities buildings. In both case, the monarchy has not performed a major a part of my life. To turn out to be a Canadian citizen, I needed to swear an oath to the Queen, however that’s concerning the extent of our relationship. I, like many Canadians, am benignly ambivalent concerning the monarchy.
