Last goodbye before a new start. The human tide had collapsed on Monday in central London, which has become the venue for the national banquet on the occasion of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral. They went out into the street to say goodbye to the king with whom they grew up on television in their living room, on stamps, on banknotes. Women who managed to make each other feel part of the same national project and who are now bringing them together again in grief. It’s been ten days that have changed the country. That they have restored national pride and international status which has weakened in recent times. England is once again the center of a world that has celebrated its most famous and admired figure. This had become a kind of balsamic truce whose end point was the queen’s burial in the chapel of St. George in Windsor.

Sitting on a bench at Hyde Park, surrounded by the crowd, Rebecca, who came from Bournemouth (in the south of the country) for the event, reflected on how they got here: “Very difficult things have been happening to us lately. The queen’s death comes after Brexit, a pandemic, amid an inflation crisis. But as a nation we are always united; This is the British way.” At his side, a man he had just met continued: “Yes, the queen’s death has brought us together, but once this is over, the problem will remain,” feared Samuel Anderson, the owner of a semiconductor factory in Belfast. from Arizona (USA) to attend today’s funeral. This unit has also been projected overseas and the world has watched in awe at how the very best of British protocol and tradition machines work. Gone are the rains of regret that nothing has worked out in this country. “No there’s nothing to be proud of after being the laughing stock of half the world,” believes James Bauer-Doodson, an electrician from Leeds.

In a line of vans selling coffee and scones, Stewart Richards, dressed in the perfect plaid suit, also touched on Britain’s international image, tarnished by a tortuous divorce from the EU and a series of political scandals that led to Boris Johnson’s departure as Prime Minister. “We’ve always been highly respected, but lately it’s been a shame. If only we could always be like this, in peace…” And he continued: “We have a new king and a new prime minister. The line has been drawn and we are starting again, with a new image before the world”, mused the 53-year-old, who works on Parliamentary protocol.

Not far away, hundreds of people sitting on the ground didn’t take their eyes off the giant screen showing the funeral procession and funeral live. There are people of all ages. With tracksuits and suits. All are willing to live a historic moment that they know will not be repeated in their lifetime. They want to participate in this collective ritual and contribute to writing the history of this country. “It’s about absorbing, realizing what has happened. To share it with people you don’t normally hang out with,” said Jordan Wright, a very young film director dressed in black and with a pearl necklace. There was silence in the crowd. The coffin had just left Westminster Hall on its way to the convent and the cell phone rang. No one wants to miss that moment.

National holiday

Restaurants, schools, shops, healthcare… all closed today. The Queen’s funeral day has been declared a national holiday. The extreme serenity felt in a London setting contrasts with the intensity of emotion and the formidable logistical spread that London funerals require. 10,000 agents deployed in operations of large scale and complexity. Hours before the funeral, all access to the funeral procession path was fenced off and police and volunteer troops flowed a river of people.

The people, patient, did not protest despite the endless queues, crowds and detours they were subjected to. His determination to live this historic moment resisted any setbacks. Thousands of people have traveled at night to get to one of the events in the British capital. Others camped out on the tarmac in the heart of the city to be in the vanguard of the parade.

And, above all, the tail. Because the desire to be together and at the same time a part of history crystallizes in the queues that form to access the burning chapel like nowhere else. It remained standing for a suitable five days and nights until half past six on Monday mornings. It lasted several kilometers and forced the thousands of people who marched past it to wait for more than ten hours. The television, which didn’t stop connecting instantly – there was a special messenger at the beginning and at the end of the queue – had a knock-on effect: families who weren’t planning to leave ended up leaving for London in the middle of the night. Standing all night becomes a challenge, an unforgettable adventure. Being in the queue was something they would tell their grandchildren about and would pass down from generation to generation. The proof is the approximately one million people who have passed through London today to witness the funeral service.

In their homes, thousands of people followed the silent parade of the burning chapel live, lost in thought. Others connected to YouTube channels where authorities reported queue lengths and waiting hours. For it has been a week of ceremonies with the utmost pomp and splendor of British tradition, but at the same time very contemporary. Everything has been broadcast live on television, radio and social networks. The people of the British royal family ran at full speed.

At times, there is a certain cathartic feeling. There are those who today mourn their deaths during the pandemic. They couldn’t watch or bury them the way they wanted and now the queen’s mourning, coffin and goodbye images made the emotions find an unexpected way out. There are also those who admit that they are surprised and sad. That they had not imagined that they would feel this way, but suddenly they felt that one of their family members had died. That when watching on television that broadcast every moment of the duel in one round, they finally succumbed to the national atmosphere. But the weariness of those who consider the ceremonies and expenses necessary to be excessive has also been overcome. Of those who want to return to normal as soon as possible. Or those who protest on the radio because Monday, a national holiday, forces them to cancel their medical appointments in a country with a long waiting list.

From Tuesday all that will be a thing of the past. It is impossible to predict the extent to which national reconciliation has permeated and will persist over time or be temporary. On the outskirts of the funeral procession, Vince Hutchins, an agricultural expert who had come with his son from north to London to see the funeral procession, had little hope: “The truce won’t last even a week. Everything will be forgotten and soon we will be back to the way it was. For strikes and anger. You will see.”

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