It was the corgis that broke me.
I’d kind of taken it as read that they wouldn’t be left to roam aimlessly around Balmoral on their little short legs after the demise of their owner, scratching in the dirt for morsels of food.
The story on the BBC website that illuminated their furry future as chattels of Prince Andrew and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, felt unnecessary. Insulting, even.
After all, there was other stuff going on last week. The war in Ukraine. The cost of living crisis.
But, as the country wrapped itself in black crepe over the death of a 96-year-old woman who had led a long and healthy life, you would hardly have known it. God help anyone outside the Windsor family who suffered a personal loss during this period.
Grief is raw and personal
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to be unkind about anyone’s death. Like many people who are republicans or agnostic on the monarchy, I intended to keep my counsel following the Queen’s death.
I understand that it is news, and that many people felt affected by it. However, the blanket coverage, the fondling of every detail, and the heavy-handed response to dissenters turned a national period of mourning for the defunct sovereign into something else: propaganda.
This prolonged spectacle had little to do with a frail old lady meeting her maker on Deeside. No one who truly wanted to honour that person’s memory would have elected to parade her coffin up and down the country, or to salivate over yet more live images of her sombre relatives standing around the dias on which it rested.
Grief is not picturesque. It is raw and personal.
We should question everything
The conspicuous mourning that we witnessed was not about grief. The cancelling of doctor’s appointments and closure of businesses on September 19 was not about paying respects. It was about cranking sentiment up to the max, partly because that can be rather cathartic and enjoyable, as we learnt after Diana Spencer died, but mainly because it reinforces the status quo.
The late Queen put in a shift. Many will be sad that she is gone. That is all as it should be
Only half of 25 to 49-year-olds now support the monarchy, but who dares question whether Charles III is a suitable candidate for head of state in this febrile atmosphere? Who dares ask if this role should be an hereditary position? Who dares remind us that the corgis’ future master socialised with a couple of convicted sex offenders?
The late Queen put in a shift. Many will be sad that she is gone. That is all as it should be.
But, her theatrical obsequies pretended at a unanimity that does not exist to bulldoze debate. Now that they are over, we should question everything, including her son’s future role.
Fiona Rintoul is an author and translator
Conversation