All week, a river of mourners has queued for hours alongside the banks of the Thames in London to pay their respects to their longest-reigning monarch as she lies in state in Westminster Hall. Tens of thousands also lined the narrow streets of Edinburgh to gaze on the hearse bearing the queen’s body last week.
Pilgrimage to bid farewell to a loved monarch is not limited to Britons: World leaders, including Presidents Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan, are gathering to attend her funeral service at Westminster Abbey on Monday.
These are not the modest obsequies of a Scandinavian monarchy. Nor is this the hysteria of an oppressed people who take to the streets when a long-lived dictator — a Stalin or a Mao — finally dies. Of course, there is media hype, but the heightened emotions are not all manufactured. Walking in Westminster last week as the royal coffin arrived, the stillness of the crowds and reflective silence among usually noisy Londoners was striking.
