FAREWELL MY QUEEN

Go in peace – you’ve earned your rest

Yesterday along with millions around the world, I sat and watched the pomp and ceremony of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. It was 10 pm here and 11 am in London, so I sat in bed to watch the ceremony. And marvelled again at the splendour, the tradition,  and the precision  And once again thought that only  Britain can carry out something this magnificent, this well

142 Royal Navy sailors pulled the gun carriage holding the flag-draped coffin to and from the Abbey. I am sure this is the day those chosen young sailors will never forget.

The streets of the Capital were lined with thousands of those British people who felt so highly of their queen that they wanted to be present in any way possible on her final journey. And so from far away New Zealand I watched this ceremony. I was in the Abbey with the Royal Family.  They obviously said their goodbyes to their queen, mother, grandmother, great grandmother in private, but here we could see how they mourned the loss of this beloved woman. You could see the distress on the faces of the King, the Queen Consort, and the rest of the family.

I won’t go on about the ceremony or the funeral because so many of you will have watched or read about it. Enough to say that I sat up into the early morning hours saying goodbye to my queen..

“To live in lives we leave behind is not to die.”
JB

JB, Wellington, New Zealand
September 20, 2022