After eleven days of national mourning following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, a full day of ceremonies brought the second Elizabethan era to a close. The official nature of this period – during which all political wrangling was cast to one side to allow the country to unite and grieve for the loss of the late monarch – was underlined by the administrative use of capital letters for “National Mourning”.
Drawing on traditions, rituals and protocols, the codified arrangements for what would happen when the Queen died and her son acceded to the throne as King Charles III, were dubbed operations London Bridge and Spring Tide respectively. They played out as a linear process, emphatically underlining the continuity of the monarchy. As such they differed in character from “collective grief”, the more social expressions of which are non-linear and spontaneous, incorporating myriad emotions, experiences and activities.
The focus on national mourning by large sections of the media, however, has left little or no room for a plurality of perspectives, whether that involved dissenting views on the monarchy or, simply, a fuller understanding of what collective grief actually means. This has arguably created a false impression of national consensus.
