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Amid their shared grief on Monday, as the royal family led Queen Elizabeth’s funeralthere was also a sense of continuity and transition for the institution she was so devoted to serving during her 70-year reign.
Deeply personal and symbolic moments collided with the pageantry and carefully choreographed military ceremony of a state funeral the likes of which few had seen.
“What struck me was the amount of emotion on the faces of the royals,” Toronto-based royal author and historian Carolyn Harris said in an interview.
“It was clear that for the new King Charles III this was both a profound personal loss and a moment of transition for him.
“He presided over Queen Elizabeth II’s mourning and will now have increased control over the new king and his role as sovereign.”
At the heart of the funeral – based on the traditional Anglican funeral service – was a desire to honor and remember Britain’s longest-serving monarch, who died aged 96 on September 8 at his Balmoral estate in Scotland.
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“Basically today was about her and what she did,” Craig Prescott, a constitutional law expert at Bangor University in Wales, said in an interview.
But as much as was on display—whether through reference to her deep devotion to duty and the Christian faith, or through more personal references coming through moments like the skil of a lone bagpiper playing a lament from a balcony of Westminster Abbey—there were unmistakable signals that one reign has ended and another has begun.
“I think the most impactful part for me was actually at the ceremony when the crown, orb and scepter were taken out of the casket,” Prescott said.
“I think that was pierced, a clear line was drawn that I guess in a sense … at that point the queen was no longer queen.”
The orb and scepter are removed from Queen Elizabeth’s coffin during a ceremony at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, in Windsor, England, on Monday. (Jonathan Brady/Associated Press)
State funerals are rare – the last in the UK was for Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister, in 1965.
Only those in their early 70s might remember the last state funeral of a monarch – that of the Queen’s father, King George VI, in 1952. And for that, the television cameras stopped at the door (in this case of the smaller church St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, where Monday’s service was held).
Not today, however, as cameras broadcast the funeral, military procession and committal service around the world, showing a royal burial much changed from the way previous monarchs were once remembered at the end of their reigns.
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Judith Rowbotham, a social and cultural scientist and visiting research professor at the University of Plymouth in south-west England, could not help but recall the funeral of William IV in 1837, when two observers “said that one thing that was evident was , that the British didn’t do shows, it was chaos and only Europeans did shows.”
“Well, Victoria changed that,” Rowbotham said, recalling the 1901 funeral of Queen Victoria, a soldier’s daughter who wanted a soldier’s funeral.
Queen Elizabeth “has done the same and it’s an interesting balance,” Rowbotham said. “It smacks of heritage, tradition, all these symbols, but it’s also so modern. It was televised everywhere. It was reported on social media.”
So, Rowbotham suggested, “on the one hand you can emphasize how traditional it was with the different dimensions … done with pomp, ceremony … everything like that, but also how it was modernized.”
Much of the pomp and ceremony came through an unprecedented military procession, filled with representatives from Commonwealth countries and led by four mounts.
Queen Elizabeth, shown on Oct. 15, 2020, near Salisbury, England, was remembered for both her deep commitment to her role and her Christian faith on Monday during her funeral. (Ben Stansol/Getty Images)
“There’s never been a funeral like this,” Rowbotham said.
“Because [the Queen] was so determined—the Commonwealth was so important to her… They were there because she wanted them to be a part of things—so you saw the mountains, and what more impressive head of procession could you get?’
As much as there was sadness on Monday, Rowbotham also found feelings of hope and positivity, especially in music.
“At the Abbey … the election was uplifting rather than somber, so you had the hymns the congregation could join in.”
They were also deeply personal to the Queen.
“There were hymns that were there at the Queen’s coronation as well,” said Harris, who also noted that the flowers on the casket were the same as the flowers that were at her wedding to Prince Philip at the same historic site in 1947.
“So we see some very important parallels with these other very important milestones in the Queen’s life that took place at Westminster Abbey.”
As much as Monday was a time to remember, mourn and honor the Queen, it was also a time to look to the future.
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“The Queen’s death has brought the royal family together, the different generations, the different branches of the family,” Harris said. “So the monarchy’s role as a unifying force was strongly emphasized by the royal family brought together, the crowned heads of Europe and the general public.”
For some in the public, it meant hundreds of thousands queuing for the funeral which preceded the burial – along with the crowds that gathered in London and Windsor on Monday, lining the roads to catch a glimpse of the processions.
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“What we saw today, the size of the crowds, the fact that the whole world was there, I think it was a testament to what the Queen did [since the late 1990s]slowly, surely, steadily updating the monarchy in its current form,” Prescott said.
Harris said the large number of people who stood in line will also be remembered.
“There were so many people who not only wanted to say goodbye to the Queen, but to be part of a historic moment, [because] we are unlikely to see another 70-year rule.”
Honoring their Gan-Gan
Prince George and Princess Charlotte walk after Queen Elizabeth’s funeral at Westminster Abbey on Monday. (Hannah McKay/Associated Press)
For most of their young lives, Prince George and Princess Charlotte’s gaze has been limited to carefully selected family photos released to mark their birthdays.
However, on Monday, the two older children of Prince William and Kate, Princess of Wales, had front-row seats to the unfolding of history.
The arrival of George, 9, and Charlotte, 7, came as a surprise to Rowbotham.
“I’m sure it took a lot of thought, but they were both big enough,” she said. “They loved their great-grandmother, their Gan-Gan as George called her, and to have lost her at that age, they’re actually old enough to remember.”
Prescott saw the emergence of George and Charlotte as “saying that this was the future of the monarchy and saying [it on] the biggest scene ever.”
“You had Charles … and then William and George sat … side by side. I think there was a clear sign that he was the King-in-waiting, and then there’s George after that and Charlotte as well.”
From left, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex; Princess Charlotte; Kate, Princess of Wales; Prince George; and Prince William sit during Queen Elizabeth’s investiture at St George’s Chapel in Windsor on Monday. (Victoria Jones/Associated Press)
Prescott was also surprised to see George and Charlotte, “because usually William and Catherine are very guarded about having children in the public eye until now.”
But it appears, Prescott said, to be “a clear indication that they want to signal the future of the monarchy as much as they can”.
Harris said the children symbolized how the funeral was a family occasion, but also reflected continuity for the next several generations.
“The Queen was not only a sovereign but also a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.”
At the head of the road
Four members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police take part in the military procession following the Queen’s funeral on Monday. (Mike Egerton/Pool/Reuters)
When the military procession escorted the Queen’s coffin from Westminster Abbey, it was at the head of the familiar red serge of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Prescott said seeing the four Mounties there was natural.
“The Queen was passionate about the Commonwealth. She visited Canada more than anyone else [Commonwealth] country,” he said.
“It makes perfect sense that Canada is playing a leading role, a real signal.”
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