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April 1, 2002, Monday THE PASSING OF ANOTHER AGE
Gethin Chamberlain AS the Queen Mother's coffin emerged into the fading light of a spring afternoon in Windsor, borne by six pallbearers and draped in her own Royal Standard, it was not just the demise of a remarkable woman which the nation mourned, but the passing of another age. Born before the Wright brothers made their first flight and when Britain still had an empire covering a fifth of the globe, she was the last link to a now-distant Victorian era, and the woman who held the Royal Family together. She was also fiercely proud of her Scottish roots. It was, too, the little things which had made her so popular. Now there will be no more daily nips of gin and Dubonnet, no more trips to the races, no more bands playing Happy Birthday to You every 4 August outside her home at Clarence House. For those who gravitated towards Windsor, Buckingham Palace and the Palace of Holyroodhouse yesterday to mourn her passing at the age of 101, there were none of the histrionics of Princess Diana's death, the seas of flowers, the wailing crowds and the mad grief at a life cut cruelly short. The Queen Mother's death was hardly unexpected, but there was a genuine sadness at the passing of a figure who had outlived the century with which she was inextricably identified. For the Royal Family, and the Queen in particular, her death, just seven weeks after that of Princess Margaret, came as another bitter blow. "It is a very sad time for the Queen. Within two months she has lost her mother and her sister, but she is stoic," said one Royal source. It was the Queen Mother's surviving daughter, dressed in black with a simple diamond brooch, who led 16 senior members of the Royal Family as they filed solemnly into the Royal Chapel of All Saints in Windsor Great Park for a brief, but poignant, private service. It was Easter Sunday, but this time there was no joy in the occasion. At the foot of the coffin was a potted jasmine, a gift from the Prince of Wales for Easter. It was at the Queen Mother's bedside in her final moments as she passed away peacefully in her sleep at the nearby Royal Lodge at 3: 15pm on Saturday. Prince Charles, who is said to be devastated, and his sons, Princes William and Harry, had cut short their skiing holiday to fly home from Klosters, in the Swiss Alps, yesterday morning. The Queen had taken the unprecedented step of waiving Royal protocol to allow the heir to the throne and his boys to share the same plane. Also among the mourners were the Duke of Edinburgh, the Princess Royal, the Duke of York and the Earl and Countess of Wessex. The Duke of York also flew home early from a Caribbean holiday in Barbados with his ex-wife, Sarah, and their children, Princesses Beatrice, 13, and Eugenie, 12. Buckingham Palace yesterday announced that a Royal ceremonial funeral in Westminster Abbey on Tuesday 9 April would be preceded by a period of national mourning. Flags will fly at half mast and cinemas and theatres will be encouraged to play the National Anthem and observe periods of respectful silence before performances. The Queen Mother's coffin will rest at Windsor until tomorrow, when it will be taken to the Queen's Chapel at St James's Palace in London. After the funeral, the body of the Queen Mother will be laid to rest alongside her husband, George VI, at St George's Chapel, Windsor. The ashes of her daughter, Princess Margaret, will also be interred there. Yesterday's private family tribute came as ordinary people and public figures, as well as visitors from abroad, paid their respects. No-one can pretend the monarchy still has the unquestioning affection of even 20 years ago. But there was an overwhelming sense something had changed forever. And her death will throw the spotlight back on to the future of the monarchy. In church services around the country, people remembered her life in prayer, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, who declared: "She touched the lives of ordinary people and she will be remembered for that." British troops in Afghanistan held a service in her memory while the State Bell, Great Tom, tolled at St Paul's Cathedral in London. It last sounded in February after the death of Princess Margaret. The Westminster and Holyrood parliaments will be recalled on Wednesday for members to pay their respects. The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, led the many tributes from home and abroad, saying she had been a symbol of Britain's "decency and courage." In Scotland, Jack McConnell, the First Minister, led hundreds of mourners at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, who added their names to books of remembrance. After leaving his own tribute, Mr McConnell said: "This is a tragic loss for the Royal Family and for the nation as a whole. I think the Queen Mum kept a special place in her heart for Scotland and I think Scots everywhere will keep a special place in their heart to her memory." The public will be able to pay their respects at the lying-in-state at the Westminster Hall in the Palace of Westminster from 2pm to 6pm on Friday 5 April, and then from 8am to 6pm each day from Saturday 6 April to Monday 8 April.
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................................................................................................................. Copyright ©2004 Gethin Chamberlain. All rights reserved. |
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