long may she reign

[pensnest]

We found out at about ten to seven this evening, after our teatime spent watching an episode of Amazing Spaces, that Queen Elizabeth II had died. I expect everybody in the known world is aware of it by now.

Not a surprise—we had actually been talking about her imminent death at lunchtime—but somehow, still a shock. I should think her last official duty was to welcome Liz Truss as Prime Minister. Which is, all things considered, a bit of a let-down, when her first PM was Winston Churchill. At least it's not Boris who'll be doing Prime Ministerly speeches and duties, not officially.

I am surprised at how sad I feel. Had not expected to. The Queen was irrelevant to my life (though my father met her twice). But... King Charles on the twenty-pound notes? Hard to imagine.

My favourite Queenly thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AS-dCdYZbo

Comments

[dine]

oh, that video is terrific! I somehow never saw it at the time (no clue how I missed out) so thank you for sharing

[pensnest]

I remember much of the 2012 Olympics with great pleasure, but that is definitely a highlight.

[jacieleigh]

I saw around lunchtime (in my time zone) that they were saying her relatives were being called to her side. I figured it had to be pretty serious. She did live and worked longer than most. May she rest in peace!

[pensnest]

I hadn't been paying much attention, but I think it was mentioned that she had cancelled a Privy Council meeting (on Zoom or some such), so it was clear there was something big happening. I had a lot of respect for Queen Elizabeth.

[kateoftheangels]

It was my favourite Elizabeth II moment also!

Re Liz Truss, the less said from me, the better. Still, I could not help but note that Daddy Starmer has weighed in with customary dignity: she was a symbol of the best of us. I do feel that, in many different ways. RIP.

[pensnest]

I do feel slightly sorry for Liz Truss, whose prime ministership was already a pretty tough gig. I hope she will manage to be articulate and dignified. Thanks for that link. I approve.

[turps]

It's still hard to take in she's gone.

I was watching some of the speeches from the House of Commons earlier and there were some good examples. It was also good to see the place without accompanying jeering and booing.

[pensnest]

It is odd, isn't it. I started thinking, well, the Queen wasn't exactly relevant to my everyday life, yet - there's an ER on the postbox, and her face on the coins, and the stamps, and these are things in my actual purse. Not the postbox, of course.

It's nice to see our politicians *can* act with decorum.

Mind, I don't think the BBC should have cancelled the Last Night of the Proms. If I'd been trying for years to get tickets, and succeeded just this year, I'd be so unhappy about it. They could have included a mournful piece and a two minutes silence, and then said, well, we go on. Rule Britannia!

[turlough]

I have such a hard time imagining the UK without her. She's ALWAYS been there! And yeah, compared to Winston Churchill most modern prime ministers must seem so bland and uninteresting.

[pensnest]

Yep. Literally the whole of my life, until today. That's so weird.

I don't think I'd call Boris 'bland and uninteresting', but having a face that needs fishslapping probably didn't help the Queen, who was too dignified for that sort of thing. I'm kinda sorry The News Quiz wasn't on this evening, though, as they'd have had some fun stuff about the change of PM.

[turlough]

I didn't even think of him - I must have repressed the memory!

[wenchpixie]

I've been feeling surprisingly bereft, although I've read some things about it being both deeply discombobulating at a time which already feels so unpredictable and worrying and also that the very public grief tends to bring up one's own, private, grief, and both of those make sense to me.

I think the money change over will take a while (although possibly not, if they're working to withdraw the old paper notes), bit the change in stamps.. yeah, that's going to be very odd. She's been in the background of so much, forever.

[pensnest]

I suspect it will take a while before we all really recognise how twined our monarch was into everyday stuff - or, into occasional but 'just there' stuff. I read about would-be Canadian citizens about to take a citizenship oath, but, well. Can't swear allegiance to the Queen, and I don't think the authorities were quite sure how to proceed, this not having happened to them before!

I think that's true, about the time being unpredictable and insecure. One sure and stable thing has now changed, and it's... strange.